


Splash of Color

by mysehuniverse



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Art Student Sehun, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Lisa and Sehun are besties, M/M, Mutual Pining, Painting, Photographer Kim Jongin | Kai, Sehun has this one sided rivalry with Jongin, Sexual Tension, The smut will be messy, like literally messy lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysehuniverse/pseuds/mysehuniverse
Summary: Sehun is a very stressed out graduating Fine Arts student that never goes to class without his coffee and bleaches his hair as a solution to every mental breakdown while Jongin is his easy-going classmate that excels in everything he does.After witnessing Sehun painting one time, Jongin becomes persistent in making Sehun his muse. Sehun thinks there's nothing special about him to make him a muse but Jongin thinks otherwise.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun
Comments: 77
Kudos: 358





	1. Chapter 1

According to Sehun’s parents, he started drawing at the age of three. Being a naturally curious kid, he would always look at his sister whenever she’s doing her homework. One time she had to draw a flower and Sehun saw how his sister drew it on her notebook before picking up a crayon to messily colour it. Sehun was fascinated so he took one of her crayons and started drawing on the walls. 

It ended up with his sister throwing a tantrum because he ended up breaking her crayon in half, not to mention that his mother scolded him since she’s going to have to scrub the walls to get the drawings out. But despite that, his father saw some good in it. The following day, he bought Sehun a colouring book, a sketch pad and his own set of crayons. Sehun started off with colouring the pictures then eventually, he tried recreating the pictures by drawing them on his sketch pad. That was when his family realized that Sehun is gifted in the field of drawing. 

Ever since he started schooling, he has always gotten praises about how good he is at drawing. His parents always gave him art supplies as presents and Sehun also uses his extra allowance to buy paintbrushes, watercolor, or sketchbooks. During high school, he joined their school newsletter as their illustrator. He also joined school competitions such as poster making contests in which he won several awards for his school. He graduated with the special award for Best Artist. 

He was so excited when he got to the university of his choice because not only is it one of the most prestigious universities in the country but it also offers the best courses for arts. Sehun took multimedia arts as his major since he wants to learn in different fields as much as possible but despite that, traditional art remains his favorite. 

He was so used to being the most “artistic” one in class that college gave him a huge culture shock. It was all so easy for him before but coming to a college where there are other artists as well gave him the realization that there are people out there who are more gifted than he is. Some of his classmates come from families of artists, some have won more competitions than he did and some are definitely more skilled than he is. But despite that, Sehun used it as a motivation to improve himself more. He managed to maintain his grades and he managed to stand out with his own works and art style. It’s safe to say that he’s one of the class favorites. 

Now he’s already in their fourth year of college. Every project is important and he is also working on his thesis as well. 

“Lisa, will you quit that?” Sehun complains at his best friend for the nth time. 

Lisa, his best friend who happens to love photography, only keeps taking more pictures of him. 

“But you seriously look so pretty when you paint. I just want to upload it on my page.” Lisa tells him as she snaps another photo. 

Sehun playfully tosses a paintbrush which Lisa easily dodges. He was currently working on a new painting at his studio apartment. "Half of your portfolio is me. You need to stop." He whines. 

"But it's always your pictures that get the most likes. You don't see me complaining when you make me pose for your references too, you know." She retorts. 

Sehun rolls his eyes at her. "I know you'd use that against me." He sighs in defeat. He reaches over for his cup of coffee but Lisa suddenly snatches the cup from him. 

"How sleep deprived are you?" Lisa groans. 

Sehun is about to complain again when he realizes that the cup he took is the cup that he's using to dip his paintbrushes in. The color of the water is in the same shade as his coffee.  _ Yikes.  _

"I have a deadline to catch for this," Sehun says with a laugh. 

"We have classes in two hours, you pulled an all-nighter didn't you?" Lisa asks. 

"Well, I might have," Sehun says sheepishly. 

"Continue that tonight. Get some sleep first. I'll wake you up in an hour then you can start preparing for class." Lisa tells him. 

"Whatever mom." Sehun mocks as he gets up to stretch. "I'll just sleep in class. If I get on my bed now, you'll have a hard time getting me out." 

"Trust me, I know the best way to get you out." Lisa grins. 

Sehun cringes. "No, you will not do that again." 

Lisa actually had a hard time waking up Sehun one time so she gave him his biggest nightmare. What else would be every gay man's nightmare than to have his female best friend pouncing on him in his sleep? 

"Succubus Lisa was a nightmare, don't summon her again." Sehun grimaces. 

Lisa laughs. "You are such a drama queen." 

Sehun takes a quick shower and gets dressed. Once he’s good to go, he and Lisa leave to go to their first class. Sehun’s apartment is not that far from their university so they don’t have to hurry to catch the bus. They stop by a cafe since Sehun can’t survive class without his coffee.

Sehun immediately slumps over his desk the moment they get to their classroom. Their professor is usually twenty minutes late so he can at least take a quick nap. He slowly feels himself drifting off to sleep when he feels a hand on his head. 

Sehun doesn’t raise his head but he groans instead. “Lisa, stop it.” he whines. 

“Lisa does this to you? Are you two dating?” 

Sehun’s eyes shot open and he turned his head to look at the speaker. It was none other than Kim Jongin, he’s one of his classmates. Just like Sehun, Jongin is another class favorite from their professors. This guy is just too gifted and blessed. He’s naturally good at every field whether it’s traditional or digital art, editing, and his main expertise, photography. 

“What do you want, Kim?” Sehun grumbles as he closes his eyes again. 

Sehun feels the other’s hand on his head again. The other is playing with his hair. “So why orange?” Jongin asks. 

If Sehun’s eyes were open, he would’ve rolled his eyes at the other. Sehun has dyed his hair in the most vibrant and obnoxious shades for the past three and a half years of college but he still doesn’t know why Jongin is always amused whenever he changes into a new color. His latest color is a bright shade of orange, he just dyed it last night. 

He usually dyes his hair whenever he’s on the verge of giving up on his paintings out of frustration. The other art students think it’s just him being expressive with his hair but only Lisa knows that a new hair color means a new mental breakdown for him. 

"Last month you were a lemon, now you're a tangerine." Jongin teases. 

"Leave him alone Jongin." Lisa chimes in. "He hasn't slept so unless you want him snapping at you, I'd stay away." 

Thankfully, Jongin stops playing with his hair. "I bet the orange hair would look good in the photos.” Jongin changes the subject.

“Oh, it really does.” Lisa agrees. “It looks even better once you color grade it in Adobe Lightroom.” 

“It does? I would like to see it.” 

Jongin and Lisa drift off into a discussion about photography and something about editing presets and Sehun manages to fall asleep for a few minutes up until their teacher for their first subject arrives. 

Their Art Theory professor discusses a new topic, Sehun nearly falls asleep again as his professor reads through the PowerPoint presentation. Once the discussion was done, he simply gives them an assignment for a new plate that will be passed the next week before dismissing the class early. 

Early dismissals are common for Fine Arts students. Professors usually introduce a new topic, give a new plate or activity, and then they’re dismissed to give them time to start working. 

“That gives me one commission and three plates to finish. Holy shit, I want to die.” Sehun says absentmindedly. 

Lisa sighs before giving him a comforting pat on the back. “If it makes you feel any better, you have survived worse than that.” 

Sehun laughs lifelessly. “Right, you’re right… I can get through this.” He says before slumping against his desk once again. 

Jongin looks at him then at Lisa. “I think he’s broken,” he comments.

Lisa almost giggles but she feels sorry for her best friend more. “He’s fine. The sleep deprivation is just taking a toll on him. Sehun please get a hold of yourself before I drag you to the clinic.” she threatens. 

With that, Sehun sits properly and pouts at his best friend. “No clinics please, I just need a nap. What’s our next subject, again?” he asks. 

“We have Natural Science in an hour and a half then Photography after lunchtime,” Lisa replies. 

“I’m skipping natsci for now. I’ll be back for photography.” 

Lisa groans in disbelief. “How many absences do you have for natsci already? Are you sure it’s alright?” 

“This is just my second time, she didn’t show up during the last time I cut classes. I’m going to finish up the commission. I need the cash soon so I’ll finish it up.” 

Lisa wanted to disapprove but she sighs in defeat. “I’ll stay and write notes for you. Be sure to come back later, okay?” 

“Yes ma’am, I’ll be back in time later,” Sehun assures as he stands up and grabs his things. 

“I haven’t been to your apartment yet, Oh.” Jongin suddenly says.

Sehun turns to him. “So?” 

“Mind if I tag along? I’m not in the mood for any minor subjects either. I need a place to hang out while I wait for photography class.” 

Sehun looks over at Lisa as a call for help but his best friend simply shrugs. “There’s nothing interesting in my place though, you’ll be bored to death,” he says.

“Not a problem, I only want a place to stay at. I won’t be a bother if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

Sehun sighs in defeat. “Fine, do what you want. I’m not there to play house with you so don’t expect to be treated like a guest.” 

“No worries tangerine head.” he clicks his tongue. 

“You better brace yourself Jongin, his place is a mess. There is paint everywhere so watch where you step.” Lisa warns. 

That only piques Jongin’s interest even more. “Can’t wait.” he grins. 

“I’ll see you later, Lisa.” Sehun waves his best friend off before leaving the classroom. Jongin trails behind him. 

They stop by a mini-grocery store to buy instant noodles, chips, and drinks because there is nothing to eat at Sehun’s place, Jongin has no problem with that though. They arrive at Sehun’s apartment not long after and true enough, the place is really a mess. 

The painting he is working on is still on the floor right in the middle of the room. It is surrounded by different kinds of paint, including empty cans and tubes together with several paintbrushes. Sehun’s mattress is right at the corner beside the ‘painting area’. At the side is a small kitchen and a table where Sehun’s laptop is placed together with some food. 

“I know, this shoebox is a dump.” Sehun says before Jongin could even make a comment. 

“No, my friends’ places are far worse.” Jongin snorts. “I can tell that you work hard.” 

“No need to play nice, I know it’s bad.” Sehun tosses his bag onto his bed. Sehun takes the apron that was hanging on a chair and puts it on. He folds his slacks and sleeves, washes his paintbrushes, and then he proceeds to continue with his painting. 

Jongin places the bag of snacks onto the table first before taking a seat on Sehun’s bed since it’s the only available place to sit on. The only available chair has paint-covered rags and tissues on it so it’s not the best place to sit on. 

Jongin winces when he sees a towel that’s stained in orange hair dye that’s haphazardly tossed onto the bed. He picks it up and tosses it onto the corner. 

“So, that’s an interesting piece. What’s it for?” Jongin asks. 

The painting that Sehun is currently working on is a couple with a beautiful scenery as a background. The painting uses an impressionism technique with pastel colors. “My uncle recommended me to his friend who wants to propose to his long term girlfriend and this is what they want.” 

“His girlfriend likes pastel colors, I assume?” 

Sehun nods. “Yeah, this honestly looks lame and cheesy, kinda like those Tumblr posts back in 2012 but it’s what the client wants.” 

“It’s nice,” Jongin says. “Your technique makes it look far better than those Tumblr posts, don’t worry.” he laughs.

For the first time, Sehun smiles while he’s in Jongin’s presence. “You said you’ve seen worse apartments. How about yours?” he asks. He might as well start a conversation with the guy. 

“Oh my place is messy as well but in a different way, I guess.” Jongin answers. “Your place is messy because you paint a lot while my place has lots of pictures and films all over it.” 

“Pictures? Do you have a darkroom at your place?” Sehun asks out of curiosity. 

“Yeah, that’s my safe haven at my place.” Jongin proudly says. “It took a while but I saved enough to convert one of the unused rooms at my place as a darkroom.” 

"That's pretty cool. I've never tried developing film before, I'd rather pay than do the work myself." 

"It's therapeutic to me at most times," Jongin says with a sigh. 

"Ever since I watched that horror movie--Shutter was it? The thought of being in a darkroom scares me." Sehun shudders.

"Loved that movie, it's really great. I remembered watching it during high school and it intrigued me more to go for photography." 

Sehun looks at him with wide eyes. "That gave me nightmares!" he exclaims. 

Jongin chuckles. "I love horror movies, they're fun to watch." 

"Well… I'm never going on a movie night with you." Sehun huffs. "I would like to work on my paintings at dawn without feeling creeped out, thank you very much." 

"Watching with me will make it less scarier." Jongin says. "I say a lot of side comments." 

"Let me guess, you comment a lot about the camera angles and color grading?" Sehun asks. 

"Yeah, right on." Jongin nods. 

"Lisa does the same thing. It gets annoying sometimes." Sehun giggles. "I do notice it at times too but I'm not that invested." 

“Manoban has such a wonderful portfolio. Her Instagram feed is glorious.” Jongin comments. 

“She has a great eye for color coordination, I ask for her help sometimes. I keep telling her to remove my pictures from her feed since it’s ruining it.” 

Jongin cocks an eyebrow at him as he shifts into a much more comfortable position on Sehun’s bed. “How so? You’re basically a part of her brand. You’re her muse.” 

“It’s not like she has much of a choice. I’m the only option available.” Sehun says. “But I still think her audience might want to see someone different for once since it’s always me on her feed.” 

“Just think of it like this, your paintings have a certain style that just makes it  _ you  _ so the same can go for Manoban’s photos. Besides, what are you complaining about? The way she captures you is absolutely breathtaking.” Jongin explains.

Sehun momentarily stops painting to look at Jongin. “Her photos… her photos are breathtaking,” he adds as if he’s clearing it up. 

Sehun clears his throat and nods. He returns his attention to his painting. “Yeah… you’re right.” 

Sehun silently paints for the next hour. He doesn’t even notice it when Jongin helps himself in his kitchen. It was the smell of the instant noodles that drew his attention once again. 

“Lunch break, I used your kitchen if you don’t mind.” Jongin says as he hands the bowl and chopsticks over to Sehun. “I suggest that you eat first, you wouldn’t want to accidentally dip your brush there.” 

Sehun laughs. “I nearly did that to my coffee earlier.” He stands up and moves a little bit further from the paint and starts eating. 

Jongin curiously watches him as he eats his noodles as well. “Is this how you live?” 

Sehun slurps on the noodles and gulps. “What would you expect from a broke college student? And an art student at that?” 

“I’m not judging you or anything.” Jongin counters. “I just hope you’re taking care of yourself well. I feel like you could catch a disease in your own apartment.” he jokes. 

“Yeah this place is in need of a clean up but I’ll have to finish up on my plates and paintings first. I just find it easier to clean in one go.” 

Talking with Jongin comes naturally after that. It’s interesting to discuss more about their techniques and fortes to each other. Jongin is very passionate about photography and filmography but he also enjoys doing other things too. Somehow a part of Sehun is a bit jealous because Jongin is extremely good at every field and he doesn’t even have to try. It’s pure talent. Meanwhile, for Sehun, he may be good in different fields but he has to triple his efforts for it. 

The sound of a camera shutter is what knocks Sehun out of his concentration. He looks over and sees Jongin with his camera. “Hey, no pictures.” He calls out. 

“Just let me take a few shots.” Jongin says. 

“Are you going to expose my messy apartment?” Sehun narrows his eyes at him.

“No, not at all. It’s just a nice sight to see.” Jongin says as he adjusts the curtains so that more light passes through. “Go back to painting.”

“Whatever.” Sehun shakes it off. He’s almost done with the painting and he’s just working on the last details. It takes a few more minutes until he hears the sound of Jongin’s camera again and if he’s not imagining things, he even hears Jongin muttering that it’s nice. 

They have about twenty minutes until their next classes when Sehun finishes the painting. Walking back to the university takes ten minutes so he starts to fix his things. “We should head back, I’ll clean this up later.” 

“You should at least clean yourself up, you have paint all over your arms and hands.” 

"Oh, right. I'll be back in a moment." 

Sehun washes up, Jongin is already all set to leave when he stepped out of the bathroom. He grabs his bag and keys. 

"Let's go?" he asks. 

Jongin suddenly steps closer to him, perhaps a bit too close to his liking. Sehun doesn't even get to ask why because Jongin is already reaching out to rub his thumb on Sehun's cheek. "Missed a spot there," he says. 

Sehun mechanically nods as he touches the spot that Jongin just touched. "Ah, thanks. Let's go then?" The other nods and they both leave. 

Lisa was already in the classroom by the time that they arrived. "So, did you two enjoy your bonding time?" she asks. 

"It's nice to see how an Oh Sehun works on his pieces." Jongin gleefully answers. 

"His place is a dump, isn't it?" Lisa chortles. 

"I've seen worse." Jongin laughs along. "But I was accommodated well." 

"No need to sugarcoat it, you were simply a stray puppy that needed some shelter earlier." Sehun retorts. 

Jongin fakes a frown. "Ouch, I thought we had a connection going in there. You haven't even looked at the photo I took." 

"Not interested." 

"Can I post it though?" 

"Hey! Are you stealing my muse?!" Lisa exclaims. She moves over to Jongin's seat and takes his camera. They both check the photos of Sehun earlier. "Oh wow, imagine if you color graded that." she gasps. "Sehun! You should take a look." 

Sehun slightly moves his chair closer to the two and takes a peek at the picture. The photo is quite… pleasing. The lighting on the room hits just right so it gives off a slight shadow silhouette effect but at the same time, Sehun's details can still be seen well. He isn't sure if it's because of the angle too but Sehun's apartment doesn't look like a dump in the photo. In fact, it looks like an art studio since the only things that are visible are Sehun's art supplies. Jongin shows more photos that are close-ups on Sehun's hands and his face. 

"Any comments?" Lisa asks him. 

"My place doesn't look messy here." Sehun says. 

"That's it? You look gorgeous here. God, I hate to say it but he took better photos of my muse than I did." Lisa whines. 

Jongin shakes his head and grins. "No one captures him better than you do, Manoban." Jongin puts his camera away. "But I do have permission to post, right?" 

"Do what you want." Sehun nods. Jongin looks happy with it while Lisa continues to bombard Jongin with questions on lighting, exposure, and some more tips that Sehun isn't really interested in listening to. 

He doesn't get it. First, it's Lisa and now it's Jongin. What's so special about taking photos of him anyway? There are so many subjects to take photos of. Sehun cannot grasp why they praise the photos they took of him when any other model could have given them the same result. 

Their professor was late for a few minutes but there’s nothing new with that. He returned their previous plates and gave warnings to the students that have incomplete requirements. Right after that, he starts the discussion for their next plate.

Their discussion revolved around flash photography. “I need you all to pair up again for your next plate. One model, one photographer. Apply off-camera and on-camera flash. One outdoor and one indoor, the theme is up to you.” 

Sehun is used to Lisa reaching out for his hand to get his confirmation to be partners but to his surprise, two hands reach out for him this time. He looks at Jongin in genuine surprise. 

“Hey! He is off limits, Kim! He’s my partner.” Lisa argues.

“Oh come on, give me just one chance to work with him. You’ve been paired up with him for every activity we passed.” Jongin counters.

“And we continue to get the highest marks for it too, so what?” 

“Sir!” Lisa and Jongin both face their professor. 

Their professor looks amused. “The three of you can be a group if that’s what you want. We have irregular students in this class so there’s an odd number as a total, one group needs three members.” he suggests. 

“Deal.” The two easily agree. 

“Wait, since there are three of you I need to add an additional plate just to be fair. You’ll submit four photos in total. Apply the same but give me a close-up or portrait shot and a full body shot, will that be alright?” 

“Not a problem.” Lisa nods.

“That’s easy, sir.” Jongin agrees. 

Sehun rolls his eyes at both of them. “Don’t I get a say in this?” he asks. 

“Hush Sehun, I’ve always wanted to do a collab with Jongin.” Lisa interrupts.

“I’m already psyched to put this upcoming work on our portfolios.” Jongin gives Lisa a high five. 

Sehun lets out a sigh in defeat. “Oh well… you’re both aware that I’m broke as hell anyway. Any costumes, accessories, and a place to shoot at will not be provided by me.” he tells them. “I’ll do my best to help with what I can though.”

“That’s not a problem, I’m looking forward to this one.” Jongin smiles. 

Lisa leers at Jongin. “I swear Kim Jongin, if this is a plot to steal Sehun away I will fight you.” 

“No worries, you’re still the official partner after this one. I guarantee that.” Jongin assures her. 

“You two talk like I’m not here listening to everything you say.” Sehun grumbles. “I don’t know if I should be annoyed or flattered.” 

“To have Manoban and Kim fighting over you as their muse? I’d be flattered if I were you.” His professor suddenly comments.

His classmates tease him because of that while Sehun simply plays it cool despite feeling embarrassed--and a little bit flattered too but he does not have to admit that. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sehun and Lisa work with Jongin for the first time.

They don’t have classes on Thursdays. On that morning, Sehun stops by Lisa’s dorm and they head to Jongin’s place together. “Are you sure this is the right address?” Sehun asks once the cab drops them off.

“Yeah, at least that’s what my GPS says.” Lisa replies.

They were about to ask for questions when one of the doors opened and they saw Jongin coming out. “What are you two standing there for? You should’ve rung the doorbell.” he chuckles as he opens the gate. 

“Wow Kim, your place looks nice.” Lisa gasps. “Do you live alone?” 

Jongin nods. “The landlord is a close family friend so I get a discount.” Compared to Lisa’s shared dorm and Sehun’s studio apartment, Jongin has a whole townhouse unit to himself. 

They were in awe at the place the moment they entered. It's spacious and it looks nice and clean too. 

"God, I'm never gonna let you step into my apartment again. You humble yourself too much." Sehun whines. 

"Sehun's place is a complete dump compared to this." Lisa comments and Sehun nods along. 

"Please don't say that." Jongin chuckles. "Make yourselves at home. I've already set up my room upstairs for the shoot, we can start when you're ready." 

"Sehun mentioned about a darkroom, do you really have one?" Lisa asks. 

"Yeah, left door upstairs." The moment Jongin finishes answering, Lisa quickly gets up and runs up the stairs excitedly. 

Sehun looks at Jongin sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I… I think we should start working." 

"Lisa says she'll take care of your hair and makeup, right?" Sehun nods. "Alright, let's get to work." 

As soon as Lisa is done admiring the darkroom, they go to Jongin's room. The place is all set up and Jongin even has the equipment prepared like the ring light, a reflector, his camera, and tripod. The bed also looks like it has new bedsheets, the curtains look new as well and on the corner of the room is a whole rack of clothes to choose from.

"Holy crap Jongin, this is too much. Sehun and I didn't bring much." All Lisa brought was her camera, her lens, flash, and her makeup meanwhile since Sehun can't bring anything for the shoot, he volunteered to pay for their food instead. 

"Is this really okay? You really prepared everything." Sehun worriedly says. 

“I’m just excited to really work on this one. I’m sorry if it’s too much.” Jongin scratches his head.

“No, please don’t apologize.” Sehun counters. “I’m just a bit overwhelmed but this is exciting too. I feel motivated to do better.” 

Jongin smiles at that. “That’s perfect then. You should get ready.” 

“Alright Sehun, wash your face then I’ll start with your hair and makeup.” Lisa orders and Sehun complies. 

Lisa has worked on Sehun’s hair and makeup countless times already so that’s something that they’re used to. Lisa strikes up a conversation with Jongin as she works on Sehun’s makeup. Once they’re done, they pick up the first outfit for Sehun to wear. They decided to go for a soft, youthful yet fierce theme. 

Lisa takes care of the first set of photos. Since it wasn’t their first time working together, it was natural for Lisa to direct Sehun’s poses and Sehun knows what to give her in return. When it was Jongin’s turn, Sehun was a bit hesitant and stiff. Jongin easily notices this so he asks Sehun a few questions to help him relax. 

Sehun is a lot more relaxed when they are shooting for his next outfit. “Are you this quiet when you do photoshoots?” Jongin suddenly asks. 

Sehun nods as he hides his face behind the curtain. “He gets shy when he’s modelling.” Lisa chimes in. “I usually play music to help him get in character.”

“I see, but don’t worry though. You’re doing great.” Jongin comments as he continues to take more photos. 

By the time that they’re taking photos for the last outfit, Sehun is completely relaxed and he even cracks jokes with Jongin and Lisa from time to time. 

“Whoa, I think I just got the perfect close up shot,” Lisa says. “Let’s do more full-body shots now. We didn’t take enough. Jongin, can you take charge? My camera is on low battery. I also need to take a call so I’ll be outside” 

“Sure, I was going to ask if I could do it.” Jongin takes his camera. “Do you want to take a break first?”

“No need, let’s finish it.” Sehun answers. 

“Are you comfortable if I give you a few directions again?” Jongin asks. Sehun nods. “Okay, kneel on the bed.”

Sehun thought he heard it wrong at first. “Excuse me?” 

“You heard me. There’s something about the first photos that we took that makes it intimate, so let’s go with that.” Jongin suggests. 

Sehun hesitantly nods as he gets on his knees. He meets Jongin’s gaze and immediately feels awkward. “Are you sure that… this will be alright?”

“Relax, make it look like you’re seducing someone.” Jongin orders. 

Sehun resists the urge to squirm in Jongin’s gaze. “I can’t even seduce a pole,” he mutters, his cheeks turning red. 

Jongin laughs at him. “Just try, I’m sure it’ll turn out great. Make it look like you’re about to take your shirt off or something.” 

Flustered, Sehun immediately breaks eye contact with him. He takes a deep breath and tries to do it. He tries raising the shirt first but he is suddenly too conscious so he puts it back down. Jongin doesn’t say a word, probably to not pressure him. He plays with the hem of the shirt, eyes cast downward as he tries to think of a scenario to help him act well. _Make it look like you’re seducing someone,_ is what Jongin said. With the position he currently has, he visualizes someone on the bed with him. His favorite actor? Singer? His crush when he was in high school? 

He raises his arms, arches his back and tries to look as seductive as he could. He kept his gaze down so that he doesn’t have to be embarrassed. He momentarily freezes because, for a moment, he imagines Jongin under him with his camera in hand. 

Sehun visibly flinches. “I-I… can’t do this.” he stutters. 

“No worries.” Jongin clicks his tongue. “I got the shot,” he smirks. 

Sehun looks at him in bewilderment. “You did?” 

Lisa coincidentally returns to the room right at that moment. “Are you two done?” she asks.

“Yeah, just in time. Let’s have lunch then we’ll go through the pictures.” Jongin says as he takes out his memory card. 

“Oh perfect, I’m starving.” 

Sehun snaps out from his reverie and gets up from the bed. “Go ahead and order the food for us. I’ll just wash up and change back into my clothes,” he says. 

  
  


Sehun internally groans as he hands the remaining of his allowance to the delivery guy. Lisa and Jongin were the ones that did the work and he doesn’t want to act like a freeloader in Jongin’s house so he didn’t complain when they ordered too much for three people. 

Sehun eats quietly while Jongin and Lisa talk about their favorite photographers. He finds himself spacing out from time to time because of that embarrassing moment with Jongin earlier. 

Once they were done eating, they returned to Jongin’s room. All three of them were seated on the bed as Jongin transferred the photos onto his laptop to view them. 

“Take this one, it’s gorgeous.” Lisa says. It was the picture when Sehun was posing by the curtains. He had half of his face and body hidden behind the curtains on the photo. The second one that they picked was a simpler photo of Sehun standing with his hands on his hips, the flash of the camera together with the lighting equipment gave a good effect of Sehun’s shadow showing too and it made the photo look more professional. 

“Oh wow, I like this one.” Jongin comments on a photo that Lisa took. It’s a closeup shot of Sehun’s face where he’s biting on the fabric of his shirt. Lisa agrees to include that one. 

“One more photo, it needs to be a full-body shot.” Lisa mutters as she scrolls through the folder. There was more close up shots so she quickly skips through those.

Sehun lets out an unattractive squawk when Lisa suddenly squeals and hits his arm. “Ouch! What the hell?” 

His best friend simply points at the laptop screen and Sehun’s jaw drops when he sees how the picture came out. “Oh Sehun?! Why didn’t you pose like that for me before? You let Jongin capture you like that?”

It was the picture of him kneeling on the bed. His arms raised up, his eyes were closed and he was biting his lips. It looked a bit… provocative. “No, no… you can’t submit this.” he disagrees. 

“What? This is one of your best photos.” Lisa retorts. “Do you see that arch and that ass?” 

Sehun feels even more flustered than before. “I think it’s too much. There are other full-body shots, right?” he looks at Jongin in hopes of the other agreeing with him. 

To his chagrin, Jongin shakes his head. “I told you that I got the shot, didn’t I? This is that shot. You have to trust us, this photo is perfect.” 

Sehun sinks into the mattress in defeat. “Fine whatever, you guys are the experts. If the professor and our classmates make fun of me, it’s on you.” 

“If they make fun of this, it means they’re tasteless.” Jongin scoffs. 

“Anyway, let’s get to color grading? I'm excited about this one." Lisa excitedly says. 

Sehun doesn't want to disturb them so he lets them do their thing. He scoots towards the headboard to make more room for them on the other end of the bed. 

_They look good together._ Sehun thinks, and they work well too. They might have argued over who wants to work with him at the start but for Sehun it seems like they're the ones that should have worked together without him instead. 

Sehun doesn't know when or how long he fell asleep but when he wakes up, he's still on Jongin's bed with a pillow tucked under his head. He can tell that it's nearly evening based on the windows. He gets up and leaves the room, but not before fixing the bed. 

When he comes downstairs, he sees Lisa cooking something in the kitchen. "Why didn't you wake me? And where's Jongin?" he asks. 

"I know you spent the whole night finishing plates again so Jongin and I didn't wake you." She answers. "Jongin went out to have the pictures printed." 

Sehun takes a seat at the dining table. "He really left us at his own house? And why are you even cooking?" 

"It's getting late so Jongin said we can have dinner here too before we head home." Lisa says. "He has plenty of stocked food in his fridge so I took charge." 

"We need to get home soon. I don't have the time to play house with you and Jongin." Sehun scowls. 

"Play house? What do you even mean by that?" Lisa asks. 

"This!" Sehun sighs exasperatedly. "You two have been… like this since earlier. Talking together, doing stuff together and now even you're cooking dinner for him." 

Lisa narrows her eyes at him. "He's a great guy, Sehun. We share the same interests and he's really great at photography, is it so bad if I befriend him?" 

"No, that's not what I meant." Sehun counters. "I just… I feel left out." he frowns. "I feel like I'm intruding on you two." 

Lisa's expression softens. "You're jealous." 

"Well, it's a strong word but you are my friend and I should be fine with you making other friends too--"

Lisa cuts him off. "That's not what I mean. You are jealous of me, not Jongin." 

Sehun blinks at her in confusion. "Huh? Why would I be?" 

Lisa turns off the stove before joining Sehun on the table. "Is there something you're not telling me? What happened when I left you with Jongin earlier?" 

"Nothing much… just him ordering me to pose." Sehun answers. Lisa gives him an expression that clearly screams _'Oh really?'_ at him so he heaves a sigh. "He ordered me to do the pose and his orders were quite embarrassing for me." 

"Go on, what happened next?" 

Sehun bites his lip and averts his gaze. "I had to make it look like I was seducing someone. So I tried imagining someone. You know how much I'd die for Chris Hemsworth, Brad Pitt or even Jason Momoa but I…" he lowers his voice. "I imagined Jongin instead." 

There was an awkward silence for a bit until Lisa burst out laughing. Sehun looks offended at this. "Oh my… your gay ass just can't resist Kim Jongin huh?" 

"It's not that! It's not like that I swear! I didn’t mean it…” he whines.

“Sehun, it’s alright. He’s an attractive man, we cannot deny that.” 

“Stop that, I don’t want to see him like that.” Sehun shakes his head. “I just felt so distracted. He’s a classmate, I don’t want things to be weird.” 

“So you are attracted?” Lisa grins. “All it took was one trip to your apartment and a photo shoot?” 

Sehun glares at her. “I can’t believe we went from me asking you why you’re cooking food to you asking me about this.” 

“Don’t change the subject.” Lisa reprimands. 

Sehun lets out a frustrated groan. “He’s nice, okay? But that’s all there is to it.”

“For now,” Lisa says.

“For now.” Sehun nods. His eyes widened in realization. “Wait, no--”

Lisa cackles. “You said it!” 

“It’s really not like that.” Sehun purses his lips. “Please, I don’t want things to be weird. Don’t put any more weirder ideas in my head.” Lisa was about to respond when they heard someone coming in the front door. Sehun straightens on his seat while Lisa gets up and returns to cooking but not before whispering a quick “It’s okay” to Sehun. 

“Oh hey, you’re up.” Jongin greets once he comes in. Sehun nods while Lisa waves at him. “I got the pictures, want to see?” He places the envelope on the table. 

“Sure,” Lisa says.

Jongin carefully opens the envelope and takes out four A3 sized photos. He arranges all four on the table and Lisa couldn’t help but gasp in amazement upon seeing them. Sehun gives both photographers an impressed look. They really did an amazing job with the color grading. His fiery orange hair goes well together with the softer tones. 

“What do you think?” Jongin asks him. 

“You and Lisa did a great job.” Sehun comments. 

Jongin is about to make a retort when Lisa snorts. “Don’t bother, he’ll never accept your compliments. This isn’t him being modest either, he never believes me when I say that he did a great job.” 

Jongin makes a face at Sehun. “Oh come on, you’re a natural. You should take some credit.” 

Sehun gives him a curt nod. “Thanks,” he mutters. 

“That’s more like it.” Jongin grins while Lisa sends a smirk into his direction. “I printed extras, by the way, go ahead and pick what you want.” 

“I’ll take my copies later,” Lisa says. “The food is almost ready by the way, set the table then we’ll eat.” 

“I’ll do it.” Sehun volunteers. 

  
  


Sehun finds it amusing that Jongin and Lisa never run out of topics to talk about. He enjoys listening to them because he picks up a few tips from Jongin in return. 

It was late evening when Sehun and Lisa left Jongin’s place. Sehun accompanies Lisa to her dorm first before he goes to his apartment. 

That night, Sehun tries his best to shake off any more thoughts about Jongin. When he couldn't sleep, he hastily got up and spent the next few hours in the bathroom.


	3. Chapter 3

"You weren't working on anything last night… so care to explain this?" Lisa asks as she points at Sehun's hair when he enters the classroom. 

Sehun ignores her as he continues to sip on his coffee. Jongin enters the classroom a few minutes later and the first thing he notices is Sehun's new hair color. 

"It hasn't even been three days since you turned into a tangerine." He says as he touches a few strands of Sehun's hair. 

Sehun felt completely restless last night so he impulsively dyed his hair into a different color once again. His bright orange hair is now gone and is now replaced with a light shade of gray. 

“Is this worse?” Sehun asks. “The orange gathers too much attention.” 

“No…” Jongin continues to play with Sehun’s hair. “This is pretty, probably one of your best colors.” 

Sehun doesn’t know how to respond to that. Luckily, Lisa saves him before things get awkward. “He went from tangerine to angel.” she chimes in. 

Jongin’s expression brightens at that. “Yeah, an angel seems like the perfect comparison. How is your hair so soft? It’s pretty amazing.” 

Sehun lightly pats Jongin’s hand away. “I’m honestly surprised that I haven’t gone bald over the past years.” he shrugs. 

"I was blond during freshman year but I had to dye my hair back to brown since it damaged my hair so much." Jongin narrates. 

"Did you bleach your hair yourself?" Sehun asks. 

"No, I had some help from my roommate. It was a bit disastrous and it hurt my scalp so much." Jongin laughs it off.

"You should ask Sehun to do it for you. I always go to him when I want to bleach my hair." Lisa chimes in. 

"Too bad we weren't classmates yet during that time." Jongin grins. "But I might try changing up my hair color again soon, can I call you then?" 

Sehun swallows the lump in his throat. "Sure, just don't blame me if things go wrong. Lisa once blamed me when I dyed her hair orange." 

"I thought it would be more reddish in shade. Luckily, the shampoo helped." Lisa giggles. 

"I'll come over to your place when I decide then," Jongin says. "It's probably best to dye it once our defense is over." 

"Yeah, Ms. Kwon warned me about my hair color when we had our consultation. She said some jurors tend to stereotype students who dyed their hair as the rebellious ones," he explains. 

"You're anything but rebellious." Jongin comments. 

Sehun looks away. "You think so?" 

"He's right, you're just a chaotic mess." Lisa adds. Jongin cackles but he looks like he agrees anyway. 

"I hope that's not meant to be offensive." 

"It's a compliment." Lisa pinches his cheek. 

  
  
  


Just like what Jongin and Lisa have predicted, their professor praised them for their photos. The praises were a bit embarrassing for Sehun but at the same time, still flattering. "I am surprised that Sehun isn't working part-time as a model yet." their professor muses. 

"Sir, I am a graduating Fine Arts student. I'd never get the free time for such things. And I'm not really interested, it's not my thing." 

"Not your thing?" one of their classmates repeated. "Damn Oh, imagine if you actually decide that it's your thing." 

"Can we please not talk about me and discuss the next topic instead?" Sehun grumbles. 

"He's right, that's enough for now. I'll be discussing your next plate and your final plate. I'll be giving them in advance so that you'd have time to focus on your thesis." their professor starts. The class all collectively groaned. 

The next plate was product photography so it was an individual project. It’s easier compared to their earlier projects so the deadline was nearer. Their professor focused more on the final plate that covers thirty percent of their final grade. Their final plate is all about photo manipulation with the theme of anything that is bizarre. 

They will be in charge of taking a picture and they will use photoshop or any other editor to manipulate or add elements to the image to make it ‘bizarre’. “This will be by pair once again but this time, I want you both in the image. Size for the image is A3, on matte photo paper.” 

Lisa was about to talk to Sehun when their professor suddenly interrupts. “And also, choose a different partner this time. Especially you two Manoban and Oh, you’ve been paired up for years now.” 

“But sir--”

Their protests were interrupted by their professor once again. “Once you graduate, you will have to work with other people. You need to get used to it.” 

“Sir,” Jongin raises his hand. “May I have Sehun?” 

“Excuse me?” Both Lisa and Sehun ask at the same time. Their professor simply nods. 

“That settles it, Sehun is my partner.” Jongin grins. 

Sehun wanted to say that he hasn’t said yes yet but Lisa already groans in defeat. “Fine, you can have him this once. I know you’re after my muse, Kim Jongin.” Lisa gestures at him.

“I really don’t have a say in this once again, do I?” Sehun groans. 

“If you want another partner, then it is fine with me.” Jongin says. “But if you reject me, it will hurt my feelings.” 

“Gosh you’re so dramatic,” Lisa side comments. 

“Fine, you and Lisa have the same taste anyway. I can trust you on this final project.” Sehun huffs. The smile that Jongin gives him was blinding and Sehun feels his face getting hot all of a sudden. 

Lisa easily found another partner too. She pairs up with Chaeyoung, a classmate that actually does modelling as a sideline. Sehun and Lisa are both friends with her since they worked in a couple of group works before in their minor subjects since freshman year. 

“We can shoot for both plates on the same day, what do you think?” Jongin asks him. 

“I don’t mind, whichever is easier.” Sehun replies. 

“Do you have any more commissions to work on? We can work on it this weekend if you’re not that busy.” Jongin suggests. 

“I have one more but I don’t have to rush it. I can work on it on Sunday. Should we meet on Saturday?” Sehun asks. 

“Yeah, my place or yours?” 

“Yours, of course. I already told you that I’m no longer letting you step into my apartment.” Sehun scoffs.

“Why not?” 

“My place is a dump,” Sehun whines.I haven't cleaned up yet." 

"Fine, my place it is then, but I feel like we should do an outdoor shoot. What do you think?" Jongin muses.

"You're the expert. I'll do what you want me to do." Sehun answers. 

  
  


After one of their minor subjects, they had their thesis consultation with their adviser next. Sehun was playing games with Lisa on their phones while they were waiting for their turn.

Once it was Sehun's turn, he hands over his printed work to his adviser and waited for her feedback. 

"What methodology do you plan to do for this one?" she asks. 

"An online survey is what I prefer to do, but I will be limiting my respondents so that the statistics won't be all over the place." Sehun answers. 

"Just be precise with your questions, so far what you have is good. Your research paper is doing fine, how about your actual products?" 

Sehun gives her an uneasy smile at that. His adviser sighs in dismay. "You haven't started? Not even studies?" 

"Well… I haven't found a model yet." Sehun answers. "Or more like… I still don't have the money to hire one yet." he scratches his head.

"Work on the studies at least, you can ask someone to temporarily model for you. Better yet, you can save money if you just hire someone you know," she suggests. 

"One of my works includes a nude painting, I can't just hire someone I know for that." Sehun cringes. 

"Oh well, just work on something at least. You have to present something on the defense. Get your survey started as soon as possible too." 

"I will." Sehun groans. 

"I mean it!" she yelps. "I do not want you to fail so you better get moving." 

Sehun snickers as she gives back Sehun's research papers. "I promise I'll get it done by next week." he grins. 

She dismisses him and she calls on the next student. Once he was out of her earshot, he heaved a sigh before slumping back onto his desk. 

Lisa and Jongin were in the midst of exchanging ideas about their products which happens to be a coffee table book. 

For their thesis, art students get to pick which "product" they will work on. That includes paintings, a coffee table book, a book illustration, board games, short films, or an animation. Sehun picked painting since he loves traditional art while Lisa and Jongin picked a coffee table book since they both love photography. 

"What did she say?" Lisa asks. 

"My research is fine, I just need to rush chapters three to five. I'm more concerned about my paintings. The model I talked to last time suddenly changed their mind about the price and now I'm back to square one." He explains.

"Just worry about the model for the next semester. You just need studies for now, right? Just ask someone you know." Lisa shrugs. 

"You always make me your muse, would you do it then?" Sehun sarcastically asks. 

"Haha, nice try." Lisa mocks. "You need a male model, I read your introduction." 

“I’ll just play around with the anatomy,” Sehun grumbles. “I’ll make a male Lisa.” He says lifelessly. 

His best friend rolls her eyes at him. “Hey Jongin, did you hear that?” She suddenly asks. 

“Lisa! No!” Sehun shushes but it was too late as Jongin was already paying attention.

“So how would you feel about becoming Sehun’s model for his paintings?” she proceeds to ask. 

"I don't mind," Jongin responds without hesitation. 

"See? You're welcome." Lisa grins. 

"No, you don't have to do it. It's too much." Sehun counters. 

"I'd be glad to help, don't worry. We're all supposed to help each other here." Jongin says. Ugh, why does he have to be so nice? Sehun internally sighs. 

"I know but… I'd feel bad. It's really troublesome." 

"How about you give me something in return then?" Jongin asks. 

"Like what?' he tilts his head in interest. 

"I'll think about it." Jongin shrugs. "It's just something to assure you that I won't model for you for free so you don't have to feel bad." 

Sehun slowly nods. "Okay." 

"You're welcome," Lisa says to both of them. Sehun smiles awkwardly while Jongin simply laughs it off.

* * *

  
  


Sehun heaves a sigh before sending one last message to Lisa. He’s on his way to Jongin’s apartment again since they’ll be working on their final plates. Lisa sends him a simple good luck message before following it up with a couple of eye emojis and smirks. He replies with a middle finger emoji before putting his phone away. 

Ever since that talk they had in Jongin’s house, Lisa never stopped teasing him with Jongin. Sehun keeps telling her that it was one unintentional mistake but she thinks otherwise. In return, she continues to keep planting weird, suggestive thoughts in Sehun’s head which does not help him at all. 

He sent a text to Jongin a few minutes ago that he’s almost there so by the time he reaches his apartment, he sees Jongin waiting for him outside. The other greets him with a bright smile upon seeing him. Sehun lifts his hand to wave at him. 

Act normal. That's all Sehun has to do because that's what this is. A normal day to make a normal project.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey,” Jongin greets. 

“I told you that you didn’t have to wait outside,” Sehun says. 

“It’s fine, come on in. I have the lightbox prepared for the product shoot.” Jongin opens the door for him. Sehun mutters a quick thanks before coming in.

Their product shoot went smoothly. They simply took turns in taking pictures of their product--their professor chose an energy drink--in the lightbox. After taking pictures, they will be editing the product as an advertisement. They still have one more photoshoot to do so they plan to do the edits later. 

“Should we take a break or do you want to proceed with the photoshoot?” Jongin asks as they transferred their product shoots into a new folder on his laptop. 

Sehun glances at the clock, it’s not even noon yet. “Let’s finish up all photoshoots first. What are your plans, by the way?” Sehun asks. It was pretty much an unspoken agreement for them for Jongin to take charge since this is more of his expertise anyway. 

Jongin nods. “We can’t exactly have an outdoor shoot but I was able to talk to my landlady. I got permission to use the backyard and pool.” 

Sehun’s eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. “You have a pool?” He gawks. 

Jongin grins cheekily. “Well, it’s an expensive place.” He shrugs. “I prepared the outfits, by the way. You may change in the bathroom.” 

Sehun purses his lips. “Please let me pay for our lunch today. You’re literally doing everything for this project.” 

Jongin shushes him and pushes him towards the bathroom. “We’ll talk about it later. Let’s just work on this together, okay?” 

Sehun sighs in defeat. “Okay,” 

Once he’s locked in the bathroom, he checks the clothes that were hung by the rack behind the door. The clothes happen to be branded too, Sehun barely wears clothes like these himself while Jongin is here just allowing him to use them for a photoshoot. 

Sehun hesitantly takes his clothes off before changing into the ones that Jongin provided. He neatly hangs his clothes by the rack. He takes a look in front of the mirror and fixes his hair. 

“You look great.” Jongin tells him when he steps out. 

Sehun awkwardly smiles. “You too,” He pauses. “I mean, you’d look great too once you change into your outfit.” 

“So you’re saying I don’t look great now?” Jongin teases. 

Sehun feels his face heating up. Jongin laughs it off. “Chill, I’m just teasing to make you relax. I’ll be back in a bit.” With that, he enters the bathroom. 

A few minutes later, Jongin steps out and Sehun tries his best to not gawk at the man because he looks so good. Jongin even used hair gel to slick his hair up. 

They’re wearing matching outfits. Black fitted pants, and loose long-sleeved shirts. Sehun is wearing a white silk shirt while Jongin was wearing a maroon one with stripes on it. “I asked Lisa for some help in coordinating our outfits, she told me we should wear these too.” Jongin adds as he tosses something to him. 

“What are these called again, corsets?” Sehun asks. 

“No, it’s a cummerbund.” Jongin snorts. “You like corsets?” 

“What? No,” Sehun defends himself. “I’m just… unfamiliar to outfits like these.” He grumbles as he puts it on. 

Once they were all dressed up, they grabbed the camera, the tripod, and all their other needed equipment before going to the backyard. No one was around since most of Jongin’s neighbors are out on weekends so there was no need for them to be embarrassed about being outside while wearing formal clothes. 

The weather was not bad either, it’s not too hot and not too humid. It’s cloudy and windy, perfect for a photoshoot. They set up the equipment as Jongin explains the theme to him. Jongin was considerate too since he kept asking Sehun if he had more suggestions or if he had other plans but he trusts Jongin’s directing more so he agrees with everything instead. 

“This place is really luxurious. I’m never going to let you step in my place ever again.” Sehun says once again. 

“Hey, I’m not that picky. Your place is not as bad as you make it out to be.” Jongin retorts. 

“I saw the face you made when you saw my towel on my bed last time.” Sehun arches an eyebrow at him. 

Jongin laughs. “You put a wet towel that is stained with hair dye on your bed.” he points out. 

“I was in a hurry so I forgot,” Sehun explains. “Sorry that you had to experience that chaotic mess.” He giggles. “Anyway, we should start now, no?” 

“Yeah, get in position. I’ll just check the camera settings.” Jongin orders. Sehun nods and carefully settles himself right by the poolside, it was perfect since there is a tree behind him providing just the right amount of shade. Jongin joins him not long after, he was holding the remote. They start off with simple poses first, just the two of them looking at the camera while sitting side by side. Jongin stands up after a few takes to take a look at the picture. Sehun easily notices the unsatisfied look on his face. 

“Is something wrong?” Sehun asks. 

Jongin clicks his tongue. “We look stiff, it’s kinda funny.” He snorts. “Will you be fine with me touching you?” 

It took Sehun a while to process that. “What?” 

“We need to make a connection, this won’t do.” Jongin shakes his head as he scans through the photos. “You’re familiar with homoeroticism, right?” 

Sehun coughs.  _ Duh.  _ “Of course.”

“Will you be comfortable with going with it? I won’t do it if it’s uncomfortable for you.” Jongin asks. 

Sehun slightly shakes his head. “It’s alright, this is for our final grade after all. I’m fine with it.” 

“Okay great.” Jongin eagerly returns to his position earlier but this time, he moves even closer to Sehun. Sehun tries his best to push all the thoughts that Lisa planted in his head away. 

Sehun tries his best to stay relaxed when Jongin suddenly rests his head on his shoulder. After a few shots, Sehun leans a bit onto Jongin as well.

Jongin is completely serious with this final plate so Sehun needs to take it just as seriously too, it's the least he can do as Jongin's partner. 

"Try facing me this time," Jongin commands. 

Sehun gulps before turning his whole body to face Jongin. The other guides him for the next pose. Sehun somewhat feels like a doll for Jongin to move as he stiffly follows.

"Arms around my neck," Jongin mutters. 

"Eh?" Sehun gapes. 

"You know exactly what I said." Jongin retorts. 

Sehun lets out a huff before doing as he's told. He finds himself staring at Jongin for a while, he only snaps out of it when he hears the camera's shutter. 

"You okay? Don't your knees hurt like this?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun feels his knees buckling a bit so he leans back to stretch them out for a while. “You can lean more of your weight on me if it makes you more comfortable,” Jongin suggests. 

“I’ll… try it out as we go.” Sehun tells him. Jongin gives him a reassuring smile before returning to the serious gaze that he had a while ago. Sehun finds it fascinating, it’s like Jongin has this whole other persona as he’s modelling. Sehun really needs to try harder to keep up with him. 

A paired photoshoot isn’t exactly new to him but he has never done it with another guy before. He has done it with Lisa for some photoshoots they did for fun before and he has also done it with Chaeyoung when Lisa asked them to do it. Lisa has even joked about how there are always no traces of heterosexuality whenever Sehun gets paired with a woman. 

Now that he’s doing it with a guy, it feels much different and it’s not like it’s just “any guy” this is Jongin. 

Sehun tries to shut out other thoughts and focused on what he’s supposed to do instead. He changes into different poses as he hears the shutter going. When it all stops, Sehun realizes that he’s nearly straddling Jongin’s lap and that their faces were so close. 

“I think we got the shot?” Jongin suddenly says. They were actually  _ so close  _ that Sehun could actually feel his breath fanning his face. It also occurs to him that Jongin is actually holding him by the waist because he is leaning most of his weight on the other. 

Sehun quickly scrambles off of him. “Sorry, I think I got carried away.” He sputters. “Was I heavy? Sorry.” 

Jongin lets out a chuckle. “You worry too much, it’s alright.” Jongin gets up and walks over to the camera and tripod. Sehun stays in his position, still processing what just happened. Jongin looks satisfied as he’s checking the photos. 

“Sehun, come and see, the pictures are all great!” Jongin grins. “I think you’ll like it too.”

Sehun was still a bit distracted with his thoughts but he nods and gets up. It was as if life is pulling a cruel joke on him because he suddenly loses balance and ends up falling onto the pool instead. 

The pool was only five feet deep so he was able to get up quickly. Jongin was standing by the edge already, a hand reaching out to him. There was a mixture of concern and amusement on his face. “You okay?” He bites back a laugh. 

Sehun rubs his palms over his face and pushes his hair back. “God, I’m such an idiot.” He groans. He accepts Jongin’s hand and the other pulls him up. Once Sehun is up by the edge, they end up looking at each other before they both burst into a fit of giggles. 

"Well, at least I can see that you aren't hurt," Jongin says once he stopped laughing. 

"I am… hurt." Sehun grunts as he pulls his lower half out of the pool too.

"Where?" Jongin asks, sounding concerned. 

Sehun smiles, it's sweet how Jongin sounded so worried. "My ego." 

Jongin rolls his eyes at his answer. "Anyway, are you going to look at the pictures or not?" 

Sehun stands up. "I'm looking." 

Jongin holds out the camera in front of him and he scrolls through the pictures. He starts with the first pictures they took and Jongin was right, they do look stiff but as he moved through the pictures, he could see how more relaxed they become and the photos got better and better. By the time they got to the most recent pictures, Sehun feels his whole face heating up. 

Just a few days ago, he was whining over how suggestive his picture looked because he was kneeling on a bed but now he is looking at a picture where he and Jongin just look so… intimate. He was straddling Jongin’s lap, arms draped over Jongin’s shoulders, their faces were so close, his eyes were closed too while Jongin has his head tilted as he looks right at the camera. 

“Don’t you think that this--this is too much?” Sehun stutters. 

“Well, I think they’re great. This is already giving me ideas for the final output.” Jongin tells him. 

“What if some think it’s inappropriate?” Sehun asks.

Jongin looks at him in confusion. “This is art, how could it be inappropriate?” 

Sehun bites his lip and looks away. Jongin is right, it would only look inappropriate to people who are close-minded. It was stupid of him to ask or even think that. “Hey,” Jongin suddenly calls, “If you’re not comfortable with us using this picture, just tell me. We can just pick another.” 

“No!” Sehun exclaims. “It’s okay, really. I’m just a bit… shy? I mean when you look at the picture we look…” he trails off. He mentally scolds himself, he really needs to stop blurting out his thoughts mindlessly to Jongin. 

Jongin smiles at that. “Don’t worry, you look good.” he shows the picture to Sehun again. “See that? You’re so hot here.” 

Sehun awkwardly laughs. “Yeah… I think you’re hot too.” 

Sehun feels his whole face heating up. Jongin is just being casual with the compliments but here he is taking it wrongly.  _ Curse Lisa for putting all those thoughts in his head.  _

Jongin didn’t look like he wanted to tease Sehun because of that. Instead, he just smiles bashfully. “Let’s wrap things up and go back to my room then.” He says. 

“Do you have a towel?” Sehun brings up. “I’d feel bad if I made a mess.” 

“I’ll be right back with a towel. I’ll bring these upstairs.” He took all the equipment with him. 

Sehun tries wringing the ends of the shirt to dry himself a bit as he was waiting for Jongin to fetch a towel. He was drying off his shirt when he notices the gray stains on the sleeves. Sehun’s eyes immediately widen in shock when he realizes that it was because of his hair dye. 

He kneels down by the poolside and tries splashing water onto the shirt sleeve again to remove the stains. He was panicking since the silk shirt is branded and it even looks new, he can't afford to stain it. 

"What are you doing?" Sehun stops with his ministrations when he hears Jongin's voice. He takes a deep breath and slowly turns around. 

Jongin had two towels with him and he was looking at Sehun with a questioning look on his face.

"I'm sorry," Sehun speaks up. "It completely slipped my mind that it has only been days when I dyed my hair so it left stains." He explains. "I'll try to wash it off or I'll… I'll replace it." 

Jongin cuts him off by draping a towel over his head. Sehun instinctively tries to move the towel away since it was a light color and it could get stains too but Jongin simply keeps his hand on it to keep it in place. 

Jongin crouches down and he starts rubbing the towel over Sehun's hair to dry it off. "It's alright, it's an old shirt that I don't use anymore." Jongin says with a chuckle.

Sehun doesn't even know how to react to this. Jongin is just being nice to him but why did this simple gesture feel so  _ affectionate  _ for him? Sehun feels like his whole face is going to turn pink. Jongin gives him one last pat on the head before letting go of the towel. He then handed Sehun the much bigger towel for his body.

Sehun tries his best to dry himself just enough so that he doesn’t end up leaving trails in the hallway. They return to Jongin’s place afterward and he immediately goes to the bathroom to wash up. Jongin lended him some clothes first. 

Once he’s all fresh, clean, and dry he joins Jongin in his bedroom. Jongin was already looking through the pictures that they just took. Sehun also notices that Lightroom was already open too and that Jongin has started experimenting with the colors. Jongin turns to him when he hears his footsteps, the other eyes him from head to toe before returning his gaze back at his laptop. 

“Are the clothes fine?” Jongin asks.

“Yeah, they’re comfy. Thanks.” Sehun takes a seat beside Jongin on the bed. “By the way, about your shirt and your towels...”

“You don’t have to worry about it Sehun, it’s really fine.” Jongin cuts him off.

“But I feel bad about it. They’re stained pretty badly. I guess the hair dye I used was too strong, it’s been days but it hasn’t fully washed off yet.” Sehun frowns. 

“I told you many times that it’s fine. It’s just a shirt. This project is more important.” Jongin gestures towards his laptop. 

Sehun sighs in defeat before scooting closer beside Jongin. “Just tell me what to do and I’ll help. Please don’t do most of the work, I already feel bad.” 

Jongin kept his eyes on his laptop screen but he still smiled in amusement. “You are probably the nicest groupmate anyone could ever have.” 

“Trust me if there were more of us in the group, I wouldn’t feel so bad but there are only two of us right now and I just don’t want you to do all the work alone.” Sehun explains. 

“Sehun please, you’re my partner and you’re the one working your magic on those photos. I’m doing the editing because I want to and I enjoy it. This doesn’t even feel like work to me.” Jongin assures him. 

Sehun smiles at that, it’s flattering for him but he still feels a bit uneasy because Jongin is doing most of the work. “I’ll buy you lunch, you can’t refuse on this one. Please?” he insists.

“Since you asked nicely.” Jongin lilts. 

  
  


Jongin told Sehun to eat first when the food came, he was too hungry to insist that he’d wait for Jongin so they can eat together so he ended up eating first. About an hour later, Jongin finally decided to eat so it was Sehun’s turn to continue with the editing. Sehun was the one that drew up the original draft for what they envisioned and Jongin did a great job in manipulating the photos. All Sehun had to do was add more elements in it. 

It doesn’t take long until he feels Jongin’s presence behind him. “Oh wow, that’s really nice.” Jongin comments. He was still eating the extra fries that Sehun ordered. 

“I think we’re pretty much done, is there anything else you want to add?” Sehun asks as he looks at the other. 

“Hmmm,” Jongin tilts his head and looks closer onto the screen. “Lower the opacity of this overlay.” Sehun does as he’s told. “Yeah, that’s perfect.” 

Sehun hits save and he makes a backup file for it. “That’s one work done.” He says as he stretches himself. 

“Want to finish up the product shoot as well. It’s still early, we can get it done too.” Jongin suggests. 

“I didn’t bring my laptop with me though,” Sehun says. 

“It’s fine, use mine first.” Jongin tells him. 

Sehun just nods since he knows Jongin will insist anyway. The rest of the afternoon went on like that. Just both of them lounging on Jongin’s bed with the laptop in front of them. They transferred all their files onto Jongin’s flash drive.

“Oh wow, it’s already evening?” Jongin says with a yawn. It was already dark outside. Sehun glances at the clock and he sees that it was already past seven. They also realize that it’s raining too. 

“Shit, I didn’t bring an umbrella. I need to get home to catch the bus too.” Sehun groans. 

“You can stay the night.” Jongin offers. 

“No, it’s too much already.” Sehun declines. 

Jongin looks outside. “Well, I don’t think this rain is stopping any time soon. Come on, you already stayed here the whole day so why not just spend the night too.” 

Sehun scratches his head. He wouldn’t be in this dilemma if he brought an umbrella in the first place. “Okay, I guess it’s fine to stay the night. I’ll leave first thing in the morning.” 

“It’s not a problem, it’s nice to have some company from time to time.” Jongin tells him. “Want to head downstairs? I’ll cook ramen for dinner.” 

Sehun nods, “Sure.” 


	5. Chapter 5

Sehun is awkwardly standing by the kitchen while Jongin is cooking. He wanted to help but there’s not much he could do, it’s just ramen after all. Right as he was looking for something to distract him with, his phone started ringing. 

“Is that Lisa?” Jongin asks. “Put it on loudspeaker, I want to ask her about their shoot too.” 

With a little bit of hesitation, Sehun answers the call and sets it on loudspeaker. “Hey,” he starts. 

_ “Hey! So how did the day with your hottie go?”  _ Sehun wanted to end the call then and there but it was too late. Jongin is already looking at him with a smug look on his face. 

“Good evening to you too Lisa.” Jongin says in a playful tone. 

_ “Jongin?!”  _ Lisa chokes.  _ “Hey, wait… why are you still with Sehun?”  _

Sehun rolls his eyes, this call is going to be so bad for him and he knows it. “It’s late and it’s raining so Jongin told me to stay the night.” 

_ “Oooh, that’s so nice of Jongin. Hope you two had fun this day.”  _ Lisa says, her tone sounding a bit suggestive.

Sehun fakes a laugh. “So why did you call, Lisa?” He changes the subject. 

_ “I was going to check on you and ask how your day went. Chae and I worked pretty well together. Can’t wait to show you the final product. How did the shoot with Jongin go?”  _

“It went well,” Sehun answers, he can’t really tell her everything because it’s awkward with Jongin listening to everything but he knows Lisa would take the hint. 

_ “Ah, I see. Hmm… can I talk to Jongin then?”  _ she asks. 

Sehun is a bit skeptical about that but he steps right next to Jongin and holds out the phone for him. “What is it Manoban?” Jongin asks in a teasing tone. 

_ “Hey, you better be taking care of my best friend well. Any hints on what your concept with Sehun was like?”  _ she asks.

“Well since you’re done with your shoot any way I guess I can tell you.” Jongin muses. “It’s a sexy one. Sehun did well, I’ll send you copies of the pics.” 

Sehun looks at Jongin with wide eyes. Jongin simply winks at him. “We’ve done something you haven’t done before.” Jongin adds. 

_ “Hey, I don’t care how good this photoshoot is but Sehun is and will always be my muse.”  _ Lisa warns.

“You’d rethink that once you see our photos.” Jongin snorts.

_ “Ha, whatever you say Jongin but unless you start dating Sehun, he’s going to remain as my muse.”  _

“Goodbye Lisa.” Sehun ends the call right then and there. He feels his face heating up from the embarrassment. When he looks at Jongin, he’s no longer smiling. “I-I’m sorry about her, she’s just joking around.” he awkwardly says. “Please don’t mind whatever she said.”

Jongin smiles and fondly shakes his head. “Can’t wait to see how she’d react to seeing your photos though.” 

“Our photos,” Sehun corrects. He wonders if it’s a good thing that Jongin chose to ignore Lisa’s obnoxious statements. 

By that time, the ramen is already fully cooked. They set the table and they began eating. As Sehun was happily slurping on his noodles, Jongin suddenly calls his attention. 

“I didn’t know that Lisa calls me  _ your hottie,”  _ he starts.

Sehun nearly chokes on the noodles. Jongin laughs but he’s quick to pour a glass of water for him. “It was her first time calling you that, just don’t mind her.” He says once he cleared his throat. 

“She said a lot of interesting things.” Jongin muses. 

Sehun tries to act nonchalant about it. “Did she? I didn’t pay attention to her that much.” 

“Having you as a muse sounds great.” Jongin says. 

There was an awkward pause, just the two of them looking at each other. Sehun’s eyes were wide while Jongin was simply looking at him with a small smile on his face. He doesn’t look like he’s teasing him nor does it look like he’s kidding. Sehun doesn’t know how to react to that. 

Sehun laughs it off. “We only worked on two projects together, you wouldn’t like that.” 

Jongin doesn’t respond to that. Instead, he gives Sehun a knowing look. Sehun makes no more comments afterward. 

The rest of the night went on smoothly--at least that’s what Sehun would like to think. He knows he shouldn’t dwell too much on what Jongin said but he suddenly feels like he’s walking on eggshells after hearing that. Maybe Jongin is just being nice and playing along, maybe he’s just overthinking everything like always. 

They stayed in Jongin's living room up until midnight. They sat on either end of the couch while watching a movie. It was a horror movie and Sehun really isn’t a fan of those so he takes his sketchbook instead and draws. He sits while facing Jongin instead of the movie and by the time that they were done watching, his sketchbook page was full of sketches of Jongin in different sitting positions and expressions as he was watching. 

Jongin noticed it, but Sehun makes an excuse and says he will use it as a study for his thesis instead--it’s technically true. 

“You’ll need more drawings of me though, right?” Jongin asks. 

“These are just studies for now so I guess it’s fine. I’ll work on more next semester when we need the final products.” Sehun answers. 

“So you won’t need me anymore for the next semester?” Jongin gives him a look. 

Sehun gulps and averts his gaze. “Who knows? I’ll probably hire a model… if I can afford to.” he mutters the last part. 

Jongin nods. “I see but just so you know, I wouldn’t mind doing it for free. We’re supposed to help each other after all.” he shrugs. 

Sehun unconsciously hugs his sketchbook to his chest. “Yeah, I’ll keep it in mind.” 

  
  
  
  


“So, how did the sleepover with Jongin go?” Lisa bombards him when they meet at school on Monday. 

“Nothing, it’s not a big deal.” Sehun groans tiredly as he sips on his iced coffee. 

After spending the night at Jongin’s, he leaves the next morning. Jongin accompanies him all the way to the bus stop wherein they stopped by a nearby convenience store to buy coffee before saying goodbye. Once Sehun was back at his apartment, he worked on his research papers and finalized the studies that he will be submitting. It has been such a busy weekend for him and he barely got any sleep. 

“Oh come on, something interesting must have happened. You literally spent the night together.” Lisa whines. 

Sehun glares at his best friend. “You made things awkward after your stupid call.” 

Instead of feeling bad (just like how a normal friend should act), Lisa smirks at him and playfully jabs his side instead. “So I was onto something huh? If you really weren’t interested in your hottie, then you would have just brushed it off as a joke. Come on, tell me what happened. What ignited your feelings huh?” 

Sehun groans in annoyance. “I already told you that nothing happened. We argued on who’s taking the couch and I won after a lot of whining. Jongin slept in his bedroom while I slept downstairs.” He explains. 

Lisa looks at him in disbelief. “You what? Oh come on, you both suck. It is always an unspoken rule to share the bed if you’re both going to argue about who’s sleeping on the couch.” She exclaims. 

“Lisa, this isn’t like your Thai BL stories.” Sehun deadpans. 

“Aha! So it has crossed your mind.” She grins. 

Sehun opens his mouth to respond but he ends up closing it again. There is no winning her. “You already knew about what happened last time.” He grumbles. “This is why I kept telling you to stop teasing me, don’t encourage me.” 

“Why not?” Lisa asks. 

“Because…” Sehun chews on his bottom lip. “I don’t want to make a fool of myself.” 

“Sehun, we both know that you’re just being silly.” Lisa scolds. 

“I don’t care. Just… tone it down a bit. I don’t need this distraction right now.” He sighs. 

Lisa rolls her eyes. “Fine, if you say so.”

  
  


The next time he got to properly talk with Jongin again was when they submitted their final project. It was printed on an A3 sized photo paper so Jongin kept it in his poster tube for safekeeping, and to prevent their classmates from nosing in on their work too. Hiding it was inevitable though since their professor was showing it all to the class as he was grading them. 

Sehun tries to ignore the whistling and teasing that they got from their classmates when their professor showed their work. 

The picture was him and Jongin both sitting by the poolside, where they were looking at each other but on the reflection of the pool, they edited the picture where Sehun was nearly sitting on his lap. With the help of color grading and photo manipulation, they made the garden look like it’s straight out of a fantasy storybook. They titled it “Unspoken Desires”. 

“Holy shit, Sehun you are hot.” Lisa slaps his arm. “Jongin you sly fox, you only sent me the pictures where you’re staring at each other.” 

“Why would I send you our secret weapon?” Jongin says with a laugh. 

“I must say, I’m really impressed. The color scheme is perfect and the way it’s edited is smooth and clean too not to mention that you both make great models.” Their professor praises. “Manoban, you should be worried. I think Kim is really going to steal your partner from you.” He jokes. 

“He’s a vulture. I’m watching you, Kim Jongin.” Lisa sneers. 

“That’s good, keep watching me closely because Sehun might really end up becoming my muse soon.” 

Sehun pretends to not care about the banter but Jongin’s statement made him feel embarrassed. He really can’t tell if that’s just Jongin being Jongin or if it has an underlying meaning to it, he tries to not think about it further. 

Finals kept them all occupied for the next week. Lisa drops by Sehun’s apartment from time to time to make sure that he’s not skipping meals while he and Jongin exchange texts to make sure they don’t miss anything on their research papers. 

Their defense went well, the questions from the jurors were a bit strict and tough but all of them passed. There are some students that have to do a re-defense but their adviser will be there to guide them again through it. 

Sehun just finished talking to his adviser when he joined Lisa and Jongin outside of the audio-visual room. “Hey, how did it go?” Jongin asks. 

“It’s fine, I didn't get the grades that I wanted but I passed.” Sehun shrugs. “I’ll do better next semester. On the bright side, I think I’ll enjoy doing media planning better than the research. How about you two?” 

“Mine is fine, but I guess it means my weekends will be booked by the next semester since I have to go out of town to take pictures.” Lisa says. “I saved up for a drone too so I can’t wait to use it for my videography.” 

“There are no issues with mine either, I just have to make some adjustments on the layout but the content is fine.” Jongin shrugs. 

“I see,” Sehun nods. 

Lisa arches an eyebrow at him. “What’s with that face? Is there a problem?” She asks. 

“I realize I’ll be needing the model much longer than I thought and that means that it will cost more. I don’t have enough allowance anymore.” He mopes. 

“I told you that you can consider my offer.” Jongin chimes in. 

“No, I can’t ask you to do it. You have your own thesis to worry about.” Sehun counters. 

“You owe me one favor, right? Then let me be your model. In return, I’ll use you for my thesis too. How does that sound?” Jongin asks. 

"But Jong--" 

"Think about it, we both want to graduate and helping each other is the easier option. What do you say?" Jongin asks. 

Lisa gives Sehun a serious look that implies that he'd be stupid if he turns this one down. So with a sigh, Sehun nods. 

"Fine, but you better not back out." Sehun says. 

"Now why would I pass off an opportunity to work with you again?" Jongin grins. 

Lisa looks at the two of them in pure interest as they shake on it. The next semester is going to be an experience.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy SeKai Day everyone!

It was the first day of class for the second semester, their last semester before they graduate-- _ if they graduate.  _

Sehun spent the break with his family. He only returned back to his apartment the day before. He meets up with Lisa at their favorite cafe to pick up their usual orders before heading to class. 

"You look great, that color is so cute on you." Lisa brushes her fingers on Sehun's bangs. 

"You too, please keep the dark hair forever." Sehun comments.

It was a new semester so it means a new hair color. Sehun dyed his hair pink this time. Meanwhile, Lisa dyed her hair back to black after continuously bleaching it and keeping it blonde for the past two semesters, she got a haircut too. 

"Should we keep these hairstyles until we take our yearbook pictures?" Lisa muses. 

"Maybe," Sehun hums. "I'll see how the pink looks when it fades into a more pastel-ish shade. If it looks horrendous, I'm dyeing it back to black." 

"Please don't, it'll be such a shame." Another voice joins in. 

Sehun is too shocked to respond so Lisa is the one that greets first. "Jongin! Hey man, how have you been?" Lisa gives him a high five. 

"Oh you know, I just spent the holidays lazing around like usual." Jongin snorts. 

Sehun turns around and he feels his mouth running dry. Jongin's chestnut brown hair is now in a shade of ash gray and not only that, Jongin got an undercut too. 

And it's just so unfair because Sehun spent the entire break thinking things through on whether he really likes Jongin or not. He just developed this horrible habit of responding to Jongin's messages first before Lisa's. He dreamt of Jongin a couple of times too and some of those dreams are a bit…  _ inappropriate.  _ Sehun wanted to use the break to clear his thoughts from Jongin and to make it clear that it's just a simple attraction but with the way he's completely tongue-tied right now at just the sight of the other, perhaps he's really much deeper in than he thought. 

“Hey Sehun, it’s great to see you again. The pink hair looks good.” Jongin comments.

Sehun suddenly touches his hair. “Oh, thanks. I thought it’d be too bright.” He sees Lisa grinning at him. “Your hair looks great too, I thought you don’t like to bleach your hair again.” 

“I had my sister do it for me during the break. It’s the last semester so I might as well do this.” Jongin says.

“Well it looks great.” Lisa chimes in as she squeezed herself between them and grabbed their arms. “Now then, let’s get to class.” 

  
  


They were much busier since it was their last semester after all. Some major subjects always assigned them in group activities and like usual, he’ll always stick to Lisa, Jongin or both of them. 

All of them have been busy juggling in between studying for quizzes for their minor subjects, working on projects for their major subjects all while working on their thesis too, as for Sehun he’s been squeezing in a few commissions and freelance work then and there to help him save up for the materials he’ll be using for his final product. 

“Have you and Jongin been talking lately?” Lisa asks. 

“Just a few texts then and there. We’ve been too busy.” Sehun explains.

“Shouldn’t you be starting with your paintings already? Midterms are coming up and you need to be ready for the mock defense at least.” Lisa reminds him. “I’ll be out of town tomorrow for a photoshoot, you should start too.” 

Sehun makes a face at her. “I just don’t know how to do it. I’ve been wanting to start many times but I don’t know how to invite Jongin.” 

“Invite? This is for your thesis Sehun, not some party. Just ask him to come over and say it’s for your painting.” Lisa explains. 

“He needs you too, right? I’m surprised neither of you made a move yet.” Lisa replies. “It’s pretty weird, you’ve gotten so close and yet it’s suddenly nothing. It’s pretty anticlimactic.” 

“What exactly were you expecting to happen anyway? I told you that I don’t want this to end up being a mistake. If it happens, it happens but I'm not going to make any grand gestures." Sehun tells her. 

Lisa palms her face. "You're just going to invite him over to work on your damn thesis. How is that a grand gesture?" 

"You know very well that asking for a favor is definitely not something I do." he scoffs. 

Lisa is about to give him another mouthful when Sehun suddenly gets a call. Based on the way her best friend's expression lights up, she knew it was Jongin right away. 

"Hey," Sehun answers. "Oh… already? Okay, no it's alright. Sure, I'll be there." 

Once Sehun said bye, Lisa raises an eyebrow at him to ask him for an explanation. "He said we should start working on our final products tonight. He told me to come over." he answers.

Lisa smiles triumphantly as she clasps her hands. "At least one of you has the balls to ask." 

  
  
  


Barely three hours have passed when Sehun finds himself standing in front of Jongin's place once again. This time he's carrying a huge backpack together with another separate drawstring bag and it's loaded with all his materials, clothes, toiletries, and some snacks he bought. 

Jongin welcomes him immediately, he even took the drawstring bag out of Sehun's hands and offered slippers that Sehun could use. 

When Sehun looks around, he noticed that there is a visible change in Jongin's place. The living room is nearly empty except for the TV at one corner and the photography equipment that Jongin owns. The kitchen still looks the same but the rest of the place looks like an empty studio. All the curtains were drawn down too.

"What happened here?" Sehun asks. 

"Well I think it's more convenient to work here than my bedroom. It's hard to focus especially if I see that my bed is just right at the corner welcoming me any time." Jongin laughs. 

"I get the feeling," Sehun agrees. "That's why I never got a bedframe. If I'm procrastinating, I'll just raise my mattress against the wall so that I won't be tempted to sleep." 

"Well that won't be a problem here. No one's going upstairs until we get work done." Jongin assures. 

Sehun settles his backpack down and unzips it. He takes out two bags of chips, six packs of ramen, and a whole bundle of instant coffee.

"You didn't have to do this." Jongin's tone sounded amused. "I can always run to the convenience store nearby," 

"I feel like this setup will happen a lot, so I won't mind doing this." Sehun says sheepishly. 

"A setup like this sounds nice." Jongin nods. "I think we'll get more work done this way." 

"So… What should we work on first? What do you need for today?" Sehun asks. 

"I plan to work on portrait shots first. Is your skin sensitive? I'll need to use face paint or makeup, if it's alright." Jongin asks. 

Sehun blinks at him. "No, wait… what exactly is the theme of your coffee table book again?" he asks. 

"Ah, since you still don't know I'll make sure you won't find out until you see the final product." Jongin says with a wink. 

"I'm sure I'll find out eventually but if you want to keep things intriguing then so be it." 

Sehun goes to the bathroom to wash his face after that, once he has patted himself dry with a towel, Jongin tells him to sit down on a stool by his makeshift studio. 

Sehun is already used to Lisa applying face paint or makeup on him whenever she makes him do a photoshoot so this was nothing new to Sehun. The only difference is that he feels more unnerved only because it's Jongin doing this. 

Sehun isn't even opening his eyes unless Jongin tells him to, he's sure he's going to look very flustered if he sees Jongin's gaze. After what felt like an eternity, Jongin tells him that he can open his eyes. 

“Perfect,” Jongin comments with a grin. 

Sehun doesn't know what to reply to that so he keeps silent. Jongin washes off the paint before grabbing his camera and fixing the lights. He asks Sehun if he's ready so he poses. 

When Jongin is satisfied with all the photos, Sehun looks at himself with the front camera of his phone. It looks like he has one of those cute Snow filters on, it actually looks cute so Sehun takes a selfie for himself. 

"You like it?" He hears Jongin asking. 

"Yeah, it's pretty." Sehun comments. 

"Keep it on much longer then. Anyway, it's your turn. What do you want me to do?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun eyes the paint that Jongin used on him earlier. “Can I try something?” he asks. Jongin follows his gaze and sees that he’s looking at the paint, he nods. “Can you take your shirt off?” 

Jongin cocks an eyebrow at him. “Don’t get me wrong, my thesis is all about figure drawing and different executions. I just wanted to add something so it won’t be too simple.” 

Jongin takes his shirt off without hesitation after that. “My body is your canvas.” He says with a smirk. 

Sehun tries his best to not stare too much. He pretty much knows that Jongin has a great body already because he felt his muscles when they were pressed up against each other during the photoshoot. However, he didn’t expect Jongin’s body to look like it’s sculpted by Michaelangelo himself. 

How is he in such good shape? They’re graduating art students so free time, a good sleeping schedule and healthy diet is pretty much non-existent to them so how the does Jongin look like this? It must be nice being God’s favorite, Sehun scoffs at the thought. 

Sehun shakes the thoughts away and tells Jongin to take a seat. He picks a brush and black paint. “Are you ticklish?” Sehun asks. 

“Depends, where are you drawing?” Jongin asks, voice sounding suggestive. 

Sehun feels his face heating up. Is he really flirting with him right now or is this harmless joking? “Just… your neck and collarbones.” 

“Then no, I’m not ticklish there.” 

Sehun starts stroking the brush against Jongin’s tan skin. He’s thankful that his hands aren’t shaking. Unlike him, Jongin was looking at him the whole time that he was painting Jongin’s skin. It was over quickly since he only needed to write a few words, practicing calligraphy had been worth it. 

“Should I take pictures of you instead? You don’t have to pose for too long.” Sehun asks. 

“You need a documentation for your work process, right? Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” 

Sehun mutely nods and sets up a camera for the documentation process. He walks over to where Jongin was sitting and guides him into the pose he wants. He then takes the canvas he brought and a pencil. It was quiet the whole time that Sehun started sketching, all they could hear was the faint music from Jongin’s phone that he started playing way before they started the shoot. It was comfortable silence nonetheless. 

Sehun finishes up the details and snaps a picture of Jongin on his phone for references when he starts painting. “I think we’re done. This will do.” Sehun says. 

Jongin stretches before moving to take a look on the canvas. “You’re really talented,” he comments. 

“We should take the paint off,” Sehun changes the subject. Jongin doesn’t say anything, Lisa already told him about how bad Sehun is at handling compliments so the other has grown used to it. 

Jongin tells him that they should at least take a picture together. They took a couple of selfies using their phones, he’ll send one to Lisa later but it will probably give her the wrong idea since Jongin is shirtless in the picture. 

Jongin goes upstairs for a bit and he comes back down with a box of wet wipes on his hands. “Use these first before washing it off with soap.” Jongin says. 

Sehun uses the front camera of his phone to look at himself as he wipes the paint off. As he was looking for the spots he missed, Jongin suddenly steps in with a fresh wet wipe in his hand. “Let me help you with that,” 

Sehun freezes as Jongin gently wipes the remaining paint off of his face. Is this necessary? Sehun can feel his own heart beating erratically against his chest. What exactly does Jongin want by doing this? Is he really just doing it to help? Has Sehun been reading it all wrong? 

Jongin eventually stops but he doesn’t release his hold on Sehun’s face. Their eyes meet, the tension was so high that you could cut it with a knife. 

Jongin swipes his finger over Sehun’s bottom lip. “Is this okay?” He softly asks. 

“I… I guess?…” Sehun says with a gulp. 

Slowly, Jongin leans in and their lips meet. It just felt right. Sehun closes his eyes as his hand gripped Jongin’s arm. It’s not Sehun’s first kiss. His first kiss was his first boyfriend back in high school but it was the first time that Sehun felt so giddy because of a simple kiss. Sehun doesn’t even get a chance to properly respond when Jongin pulls away. Their eyes meet once again and Sehun feels like he’s going to melt into a puddle. Jongin releases his hold on him and was about to step back when Sehun’s grip on his arm tightens. Jongin looks at him again.

“One more,” he says, barely above a whisper. 

Jongin’s gaze softens and he notices a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. He leans in again for another. This time it was much longer and Sehun feels a bit braver this time as he kisses the other back. There was no tongue involved, just their lips molding against one another but it was still satisfying. 

When they pull apart, Sehun didn’t know what to do besides give Jongin a shy smile. “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that.” Jongin says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated ;;


	7. Chapter 7

Sehun looks at him in genuine surprise. "Really?" He asks. 

"Pretty sure you can tell with the way I kissed you," Jongin replies. 

Sehun instinctively touches his lips. "Jongin… I think--" 

"We'll talk about this," Jongin finishes for him. "But right after washing up. Go and order the food first." Before going upstairs, Jongin turns to him once more. "Don't worry, I'm not going to avoid it." 

Somehow Sehun is glad that Jongin said that because he's too embarrassed to bring it up himself. 

  
  


A few moments later, they were both eating the lunch that Sehun ordered. They're seated at Jongin's dining table and both of them are freshly washed up, Jongin was wearing a new shirt. Sehun still had to paint right after so he didn't change yet. 

"I like you," Jongin suddenly blurts out. 

Sehun just took a bite of his Subway sandwich and ends up choking on it. He covers his mouth when he coughs out nearly half of the bite he just took. Gross. 

He spits it out in the nearest trashcan and washes up by the sink, his whole being is burning in embarrassment. "Sorry for that," Sehun mutters. 

"So are you just gonna ignore what I just said?" Jongin asks. 

"You caught me off guard!" Sehun defends himself. "And I didn't know how to react, the possibility never even crossed my mind." 

"Really?" Jongin scratches his head. "I thought I was being obvious." 

"What? How?" Sehun gawks. 

"I always comment about your hair," Jongin shrugs. "And also my recent attempts in stealing you away from Lisa." 

"Wait, so is this only recent?" Sehun asks. 

"Remember your parrot hair? Yeah, I think that was when I started noticing you more." the other honestly replies as he munches off his sandwich. 

"That was during second year…" Sehun murmurs.

"Yeah, I barely attended class during that time so we never talked but I did see you on Lisa's portfolio." Jongin explains. "You were very pretty." 

Sehun kept his eyes on his sandwich and tried to focus on eating. "Enough about me, tell me about your side. You kissed me too." He doesn't know how Jongin can be so calm about this. Sehun feels so embarrassed every time he recalls how desperate he sounded when he asked for one more kiss earlier. 

"Remember the first time we worked on a photoshoot together?" Sehun asks. Jongin nods as he listens attentively. "That was when Lisa started teasing me. I tried to not think about it but… That didn't work well considering what just happened earlier." 

"You don't regret it, do you?" Jongin asks, sounding worried. 

"Of course I don't." Sehun replies. "I'm just worried… I don't want things to be awkward." 

"It won't be awkward unless you make it awkward." Jongin drawls. "Besides, we both have a thesis to finish together so you better not avoid me after this." 

That makes Sehun smile in relief. He's grateful that Jongin is making sure that he isn't uncomfortable by making things light for him. 

"Speaking of the thesis, I need to start painting." Sehun says as he gobbles up what remains of his sandwich and stands up. 

He sets down some newspapers on the floor to make sure he doesn't make any messes. He plugs in his earphones, picks up a paintbrush, and starts working like he usually does. 

Jongin stayed with him the whole afternoon. The other moved around the living room. He took a seat beside Sehun and watched him paint, moved to a corner of the room to play games on his phone, ate snacks (he made sure to give Sehun some too), and edited the pictures he took earlier on his laptop. 

It was already evening by the time that Sehun stopped working. He's nearly done but he still needs to wait for the paint to dry before applying another layer. 

He takes off his earphones and makes a mental note to charge his phone since his battery is already low. 

"You hungry?" Sehun turns and sees Jongin heating up a meal in the oven. "I ordered food earlier while you're busy, this will be done in a few minutes. Oh, and Lisa called me too. She said your phone is usually on airplane mode whenever you work so she called me instead." 

"Sorry for the bother," Sehun groans. "Did you tell her anything?" 

"No," Jongin shakes his head. "What exactly will I tell her though?" his tone sounded playful. 

Sehun keeps himself mum and gives him a coy smile instead. 

They had dinner in comfortable silence. Sehun checks on his painting and does a few more finishing touches before cleaning up the living room and showering. 

Jongin was already settled on the couch by the time he entered the room. "Hey, I'm taking the couch." he argues. 

"I allowed you to sleep in the living room last time so take the bed." Jongin tells him. 

"But--it's…" 

"Should we share the bed?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun must have looked so flustered because Jongin snickers in amusement. "I'm kidding," he stands up and pushes the couch until it's right next to the bed. "Let's just do it like this," he plops back down on the couch. 

Sehun still looks hesitant but he settles himself on the bed. He scoots over to the edge just so he'd be closer to Jongin. It feels like they're much closer this way. If they shared the bed and stayed on each side, there would be more space between them but this works too. 

"Hey," Jongin calls when they make eye contact. 

"Hey," Sehun parrots. 

"We should start going out." 

Sehun blinks a couple of times as he processes the thought. "Can we… can we manage that? We're always busy and we have so many stuff to work on and--" 

"Relax Sehun," Jongin cuts him off. "It's just dating, this isn't another thesis. There is no pressure. I'm fine with our dates being composed of breakdowns over projects and plates. I just want to spend more time with you, but not just as a classmate or a partner." 

Sehun hides half of his face behind the pillow that he's hugging. Jongin was never just a classmate for him because of the short one-sided rivalry he had and he definitely can't just be a simple partner for Sehun now. 

So he dangles his arm on the edge of the bed, Jongin's hand meets his halfway. "Let's go out." Sehun says. 

Jongin brushes his lips over Sehun's knuckles. "I love the sound of that." 

  
  
  
  


They told Lisa about it the following week. "I can't believe you waited for a whole week to pass before telling me!" She whines. "You said it was an uneventful weekend!" 

"You told her that?" Jongin smirks. 

"Because I know she'll make a fuss over it." Sehun grimaces. 

"I'd make a fuss either way," Lisa shrugs. "So are you just going on dates or are you boyfriends yet?" she asks. 

"He's my boyfriend,"

"Just dating for now," 

The pair exchanged looks after giving different answers while Lisa stiffens on her seat. "Oops," she mutters. 

"You said we should start going out, isn't that what it means?" Sehun asks. 

Jongin scratches his head. "Well, I wasn't sure if you were ready for that when we talked and I told you that there's no pressure, right?" 

Sehun tries his best to not frown. "Oh… I guess." His shoulders slump. "No pressure." 

He sighs in relief when he suddenly gets a message on his phone. "I'll be right back, it's for a commission." he says before quickly leaving their table. 

"I shouldn't have asked." Lisa speaks up after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. 

"I said something wrong, didn't I?" Jongin asks.

"Not really, it's just miscommunication on your part and Sehun is just a bit… sensitive." Lisa winces. "God, I feel bad. I really feel like I overstepped and made him relive a bad memory all over again." 

"What do you mean?" Jongin asks.

"It's a bitter memory with his ex but it isn't my place to tell." Lisa sighs. "Please talk to him. He'll probably avoid us both today but he'll be fine tomorrow. It's the weekend again so he's coming over at your place again, isn't he?" 

"What if he doesn't come?" Jongin asks.

"He will, he doesn't back out on plans that he already agreed on." Lisa assures. 

"Alright, we'll talk things through tomorrow." Jongin nods. "But… do you really think Sehun wants to be my boyfriend?" 

Lisa gives him a deadpan expression. "He walked out because he called you his boyfriend while you said you weren't yet." 

"I just didn't want to rush things. I thought it's what he wants since he was hesitant to agree about going out with me too." Jongin sounded clueless. 

"Please be patient with my best friend. He can be a bit…  _ dramatic  _ but you'll understand once he explains it to you." Lisa explains. 

Jongin holds onto what Lisa said. 

  
  


However, Sehun does not show up the following day. Jongin thought he was just late so he waited a bit more but when Sehun still hasn't arrived at his apartment two hours later, he decided to come over at Sehun's place instead. 

Sehun was home and to Jongin's surprise, he wasn't alone. He's currently talking with someone right by his door. He was with a woman, she's very beautiful and she is dressed nicely too. 

Sehun's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he saw Jongin by the gate. The woman notices Sehun's expression so she turns and sees Jongin too.

"Oh, is this him?" the woman smiles knowingly, much to Jongin's confusion. 

"Please leave," Sehun squeaks out. 

"Fine, I'll go. But you better give mom and dad a call, okay? And please have your place cleaned up or find a new place at least." she tells him before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

"Yeah, yeah. Drive safely, bye." Sehun grumbles. 

Before leaving, the woman smiles at Jongin and reaches out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, my name is Minyoung. I'm Sehun's sister." 

"Kim Jongin," he introduces, still dazed by what's going on. 

Her smile widens. "It is you. Well, take care of my careless brother. We should meet again some other time." 

With that, she waves one more time at Sehun before entering her car that was parked by the driveway and leaving. 

By the time that Sehun's sister was gone, Jongin turns back to look at Sehun. "Are you coming in?" he asks, sounding hesitant. 

Jongin nods and follows Sehun inside. He instantly winces when he sees the mess inside. Sehun must have been painting the night before because there are some hints of spilled paint left on the floor. There is a canvas and a few paintbrushes lying around. 

"I was supposed to go to your place but my sister suddenly dropped by," Sehun explains. "And also, I'm sorry for the mess. I wasn't expecting anyone to come." 

"You're not mad at me?" Jongin goes straight to the point. 

"Mad? Why?" 

"You walked out on Lisa and me yesterday," Jongin replies. "And you didn't reply to my texts." 

Sehun takes a seat at his mattress. "Sorry, I was just… embarrassed." 

"Embarrassed? Why?" Jongin takes a seat beside him. 

"Well, I thought I was being pushy and that I was pressuring you." Sehun frowns. "I thought that things were really serious when we had that talk so when we both had different answers in front of Lisa I just felt so--foolish." 

"It's not foolish, we should have just talked things out better. Sehun, I just thought that you didn't want to rush things but trust me, whether we are boyfriends or not, it won't change my feelings for you." Jongin says. 

Sehun looks at him, eyes looking as expressive as ever. "You're not just saying this because I'm upset, right?" he asks. 

Jongin chuckles. "Do you really doubt me that much?" 

Sehun shakes his head. "Sorry, it's not like that. It's just… I've kinda been on the same situation before and it didn't work out so I was a bit worried." 

He takes Sehun's hand in his. "You can tell me about it," 

"It's just a silly story about my ex," Sehun laughs. 

"I'm listening," Jongin tells him. 

Sehun heaves a sigh. "He asked me out and we had a couple of dates but he never really told anyone about me and I couldn't tell Lisa either. I felt like I was his dirty little secret. We broke up because I couldn't take it anymore. I asked him why do we have to be so secretive and he guilt-tripped me into thinking that I was pressuring him and that I was obsessed with the boyfriend label too much." He narrates. 

Jongin looks at him in disbelief. No wonder Lisa sounded so worried when she said she might have made Sehun remember something bad. Sehun must have blamed himself for the breakup.

"He's an ass, okay?" Jongin tells him. "And you deserved better than that. I'm sorry that you had to feel that way but I'm different from your ex and I'd never want you to feel that way again." 

"Thanks Jongin, I'm sorry for being too dramatic." He says with a laugh. 

"It's alright, don't worry about it." Jongin says. "Why was your sister here, by the way?" He changes the subject. 

"She gave me my allowance," Sehun says sheepishly. "Well… my parents know that I'm kinda struggling since I haven't been taking commissions lately due to our thesis so they told my sister to drop by and check on me. She saw the mess so she was telling me to move out." 

"You can always move out if it's getting hard," Jongin offers. 

"We're just a few months away from graduation, I'll manage." Sehun replies. "Besides, I am so used to this mess that if I move to a bigger and cleaner place, I'd probably misplace a few things." 

"I get the feeling," Jongin nods. "I have another question though, why did your sister react like that when she saw me?" he asks. 

"She obviously knows that you're  _ the  _ guy." Sehun rolls his eyes. 

"Hmm? What guy?" He probes. 

Sehun fakes a laugh. “Well, the funny thing is that I couldn’t tell her what exactly we were because of the misunderstanding yesterday so I simply told her you’re someone that’s more than a friend.” 

Jongin laughs fondly. “We can change that,” he leans closer to Sehun, their lips nearly brushing against one another. “We can be boyfriends,” 

“Are you sure? No pressure, okay?” Sehun smiles. 

Jongin playfully rolls his eyes before shutting Sehun up with a sweet peck on the lips. “Boyfriends?” he says. 

Sehun smiles giddily and buries his face on the nook of his neck. “Boyfriends,” he mutters. 


	8. Chapter 8

Lisa was the happiest when she found out the following week that the two have settled their slight drama and have finally become official boyfriends.

Jongin even jokes that Sehun is officially his muse now since Lisa once said before that it would only be possible if he starts dating Sehun. It ended with the two bickering once again.

Although not much has really changed since they were busy with schoolwork and focused on their thesis. The only changes that happened are the simplest things such as Sehun reaching for Jongin’s hand whenever they’re walking together, Jongin sneaking in kisses at any chance he gets and Lisa occasionally complaining about her becoming the third wheel. 

“So when are you two doing it?” Lisa asks one morning as she and Sehun were ordering their coffee.

“Doing what?” Sehun asks.

“The nude painting?” Lisa lowers her voice. “I know you’ve been pushing it back for quite a while now,” 

“I thought you meant something else.” Sehun comments. 

Lisa smirks and bumps her hip against Sehun’s. “Isn’t it too early to have your mind in the gutter?” 

Sehun turns away. “With the way you’ve been dropping dirty jokes every now and then whenever you want to tease Jongin and I, what do you think I should expect?” he huffs. 

Lisa shrugs it off. “Oh well, my question applies for both then. When are you doing the nude painting and when are you two gonna bang?” she snickers.

“Oh my god, shut up.” Sehun hisses. 

“Don’t tell me that you never thought about it, I know you did.” Lisa babbles. 

“We’re doing it this weekend.” Sehun snaps. 

“Which one?”

“The painting of course!” He whines. 

Lisa laughs at how embarrassed he looks. “Well, whichever is fine. Jongin will be naked either way.” 

Sehun would’ve left her in the cafe if his coffee wasn’t paid. 

  
  
  
  


Sehun comes over at Jongin's place during the weekend once again. Sehun tries his best to delay things by helping Jongin with his thesis and watching a movie. That is until Jongin noticed. 

"Aren't we supposed to work on your painting?" Jongin asks. 

"That can wait," Sehun brushes it off. 

Jongin gives him a doubtful look. “You’ve been delaying that for quite a while now, is there something you’re not telling me?” He cocks an eyebrow. 

“No, I’m just too lazy for it.” Sehun dismisses. “Are we watching this movie or not?” Jongin suddenly takes the remote away from him. “Hey!” 

Jongin turns off the television and looks over at Sehun. “Tell me what’s wrong. You’re being weird. You never postpone anything when you have to paint, I know this isn’t because of an art block either because you would have dyed your hair if that was the case.” 

Sehun pouts, why does Jongin know him so well? “You do know that I have to work on the nude painting next…” he says. 

“And so?” 

“Well... you’re my boyfriend now so… it’s a bit embarrassing. I don’t think I can work properly.” He honestly says. 

Much to his chagrin, his boyfriend starts laughing. “Babe, are you serious?” 

“It’s a nude painting,” Sehun clarifies. 

“Just say the word and I’ll take off my clothes, we don’t have to be embarrassed.” Jongin teases. 

“Jongin!” He whines. 

“Sehun,” Jongin mockingly calls him in the same tone. “Relax, it’s just a painting. You don’t have to worry about being awkward. I’m your boyfriend, so ogle all you want.” 

Sehun punches him on the shoulder. “Put a towel on and I’ll go get my brushes.” he grunts.

“That’s my favorite artist.” Jongin smirks triumphantly. 

  
  


Sehun is determined to have his work done but now that he’s standing in front of an almost naked Jongin, he thinks otherwise. 

“So? How do you want me?” Jongin asks. The towel was hanging dangerously low on his hips, Sehun feels like he’s about to faint. 

He shakes all the dirty thoughts away. “Stay on the bed, take the towel off but keep yourself covered up.” 

They had to work in the bedroom instead since it’s more private there and Sehun wants Jongin to be more comfortable. Sehun laid out a lot of newspapers on the floor and made sure that his paint won’t spill on anything. 

As Jongin gets in position, Sehun climbs onto the bed as well to fix his boyfriend’s hair. He’s all focused on that until he feels a hand by his waist. “Don’t you dare,” he groans. 

“It’s hard to resist, especially when you’re like this.” Jongin sneaks a kiss on his neck. 

“If you get hard now, you’ll have to stay like that until I’m done painting.” Sehun threatens. 

Jongin laughs. “You’re so annoying.” He lets go of Sehun, he knows that he means it so he’s not going to take that threat lightly. 

Sehun places Jongin's arms for the pose he likes. He also nudges Jongin's legs with his knee. "You're so rude to your model, do you know that?" Jongin complains. "I'm doing this for free and this is how you treat me," 

"Hey, you were the one that volunteered. I never forced you." Sehun retorts. "But I will make it up to you. Let's just get this over with, please?" 

"You'll make it up to me?" Jongin tilts his head. "Is that a promise?" his voice sounded dangerously suggestive but Sehun didn't dwell on it too much. 

"Promise," he agrees. 

With that, Jongin is finally doing the preferred pose he likes so he steps back to look at him at a much better angle. 

He's sitting on the bed with his legs spread and he's holding the towel with one hand against his crotch. He's slightly leaning back and using his other arm for support. 

Honestly, Jongin looks like he jumped straight out of Sehun's wet dreams. His body is really amazing and his gaze is to die for. Sehun would have jumped his boyfriend if he didn't have a painting to work on. 

  
  


Realizing that this situation would be hard (no pun intended) for both of them, he takes his canvas and starts sketching. The pose is tiring and he doesn't want Jongin to stay like that for too long.

It was the first time that Sehun felt so tense while working on a painting and it's not the kind of tension he feels when he is rushing a deadline but tense in a different context. Every time he looks at Jongin, he sees that the other is looking at him deeply. Jongin is the one that's naked but he's the one that feels so exposed because of his gaze alone. 

He talks to Jongin a couple of times to ask if he's still doing fine or if he needs to stretch but he says it's alright. 

After what seemed like ages, Sehun was finally satisfied with his progress. "I think this is enough, don't you think?" Sehun turns the canvas to give Jongin a look. 

It's still a bit rough, but he already made markers for the lighting and all the important details so that he can continue to work on it without a reference. 

"Can I move now?" Jongin asks. 

"Sure," once Sehun answers, Jongin falls back on the bed and lets out a loud groan. 

"Holy shit how do the professional models do it? That was difficult." he asks. 

Sehun sets aside his canvas and brushes to stand up and check on his boyfriend. "I'm sorry, I tried my best to work faster." 

"Nah, it's alright. I'd do this all over again as long as you're the one painting." Jongin drawls. 

Sehun takes a seat on the bed, he is cautious enough to not look in Jongin's direction. Now that he's no longer painting the other, he feels flustered to look at him again. 

"You did great, I can't imagine painting someone else for this too." he says. 

Jongin suddenly grabs his arm and pulls him down until his back is flat on the mattress too. "I have paint all over me, I'll mess up the bedsheet." He says. 

He tries getting up again but Jongin suddenly moves over. He slings his leg over him while keeping him pinned down. Sehun practically freezes under him. Jongin is still naked and he  _ feels _ it all. 

"Have I ever told you that you're so sexy when you're painting?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun gulps, he already feels the heat pooling on his loins. "You were so focused and every time you look at me, I fight the urge to get up and kiss you senseless." he adds. 

"It was…" Sehun says breathlessly. "It was hard for me too, especially when you look like that." 

"How about you return the favor then? You've seen me naked, so what if I…?" he trails off. 

Sehun would have laughed and brushed it off as a joke but it would be a lie if he'd act like that thought hasn't crossed his mind. He takes one of Jongin's hands and slowly guides it onto the hem of his shirt. "I promised that I'll make it up to you," he says. 

Jongin gives him a pleased smile. He didn't need to ask twice because he already pulled off Sehun's shirt in no time. 

Jongin looks at him in awe, he runs down his palm over Sehun's torso, his fingers brushing over Sehun's nipples. "You're a work of art," he comments. 

Sehun's face heats up. "Stop being so cheesy," he grits. 

Jongin chuckles. "No, but seriously… seeing you like this is giving me ideas. Would you let me?" 

"What do you want to do?" Sehun asks. 

"You'll see," Jongin stands up and wraps the towel around his waist. Sehun patiently waits as Jongin momentarily steps away from the bed. 

He props himself up on his elbows and to take a look at what Jongin is up to. His eyebrows raise in confusion when he sees that the other has a brush on one hand and Sehun’s mixing plate on the other. 

“You’re scaring me,” he gulps. 

“Close your eyes,”

Sehun pouts his lips and narrows his eyes at him. “Jongin, you’re holding paint and we’re on the bed.” he points out. 

“You’re ruining the mood.” Jongin snorts.

Sehun huffs. He drops back down onto the bed and closes his eyes. His jeans were unbuttoned and pulled off of him.

He's tempted to open his eyes but a bigger part of him wants to follow Jongin's orders. After a few moments of agonizing silence, Sehun feels the cold tip of the brush against his stomach. He hisses, the brush is freshly dipped in paint and Sehun could feel it dripping against his skin. 

Jongin makes a few more brush strokes, he was either writing or drawing something on his skin. Sehun squirms when he feels the brush against his waist. 

"A bit ticklish, huh?" Jongin lilts. 

This time, Sehun feels the brush against his chest and he couldn't help but moan when the brush strokes past his nipple. "Sensitive too, you're perfect." 

"Stop analyzing me." Sehun pants. He squirms once more when he feels the brush on his other nipple too. 

Jongin moves around again and then he suddenly feels a much, thicker brush moving down from his chest to his thighs. "You want to know what's so hot?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun still had his eyes closed but he turns his head to the direction from where Jongin's voice is coming from. "You're not even tied up or blindfolded and yet…" he pulls down Sehun's underwear to completely expose himself and his erection, "You're being so good to me. You're not opening your eyes and you're not even moving your hands. You like this, don't you?" 

He feels Jongin's breath ghosting over his lips. "Fuck, yes…" 

It was sweet torture. He feels the brush all over his body. His neck, chest, stomach, waist, thighs but he couldn't do anything.

Jongin hasn't even directly touched him yet he feels so stimulated. He had to bite his lips to muffle his moans a couple of times. The other was so focused on making Sehun's body his canvas. 

"Jongin please," Sehun whines when he feels like he couldn't take it anymore. 

Jongin tells him to open his eyes, so he did. His body is covered in streaks of red and black paint. Not only that, he sees Jongin's name written all over him as well. 

"You're unbelievable," Sehun gasps. 

"I've made plenty of paintings before but this is personally my favorite." Jongin grins. 

Sehun stretches out one hand to grab Jongin's nape. "You're just a perv," he says before pulling him down for a kiss. 

Jongin was able to place the brush and paint onto the bedside table without breaking the kiss. Once his hands were no longer occupied, he wraps an arm around Sehun's waist and shifts their weight so that Sehun was on top of him. 

Sehun shifts in a much better position as he licks into Jongin's mouth. There was nothing innocent about the kiss, their tongues pressing up against another, Sehun's fingers tangling up against Jongin's hair while Jongin's hands continue to travel lower until they rest on Sehun's ass. 

He shudders when Jongin gives his ass a squeeze. It was so messy. Most of the paint hasn’t even dried up so it was smudging up against their bodies but Jongin didn’t mind. He places his hands on Jongin’s toned stomach and rolls his hips. 

“Ahh, fuck Sehun,” Jongin curses. 

“Want to come?” Sehun asks. 

Jongin runs his palms over Sehun’s thighs. “No shit,” 

Sehun moves again until Jongin’s cock was rubbing against his ass. With one hand braced against Jongin’s stomach and the other wrapped around his own cock, he continues to grind his hips down. 

“I’ve been thinking of doing this throughout the whole time you were painting,” Jongin breathlessly says. 

“I could tell,” Sehun continues to move his hips. 

Sehun shifts lower so he could grab Jongin’s dick and rub it against his own. Jongin feels delirious, this feels like something that straight out came from a porno. Neither of them last long since they were both itching for it ever since Sehun started painting. Jongin comes first and Sehun follows not long after. Sehun drags his finger through the come over Jongin’s stomach. 

“It’s not like I was any better… I had dirty thoughts too,” He says before licking his finger clean. “Plenty of them.”

Jongin just looks at him in awe. “Didn’t know you had this side of you.” He exhales. “Yeah, this is gonna haunt me in my dreams.”


	9. Chapter 9

Sehun chuckles before moving over to catch his breath. He is covered in both paint and cum… he finds it hot. He won’t be able to paint anymore without thinking of this very moment.

Jongin sits up and looks over at him. He shamelessly eyes Sehun with a smug look on his face. "Will you let me take a picture of you like this?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun arches a brow at him. One of these days, he and Jongin need to sit down and talk about whatever kinks they both have but that is a discussion for another day. 

"My body is your canvas," he repeats what Jongin said earlier. 

Jongin looks pleased with that. He grabs his camera and snaps a few pictures. Sehun doesn't know why but since he's not pressured to do modeling for this shoot, he does it easily without instructions. 

As soon as Jongin is satisfied with the shots, he puts his camera down and pulls Sehun in the shower. 

Showering was troublesome since they had to scrub off all the paint on Sehun's body. There were too many distractions too, mainly Jongin sneaking touches every now and then. It ends with him giving Jongin a blowjob right after the other made him come again when he fingered him in the shower. 

Once they're freshly showered and dressed, they cuddle up on the bed. Jongin rests against Sehun's chest as he checks the photos he took earlier. 

"You could start an onlyfans with these photos." Jongin whistles. Now that Sehun already  _ came down  _ from his high, he finds the pictures embarrassing despite posing shamelessly a while ago. "Can I upload one on my page?" 

"Jongin, those are my nudes." He deadpans. 

"I'll crop it, I'll just upload this part." he crops the picture so that it was only showing his collarbones and chest, Jongin's name can be seen clearly. 

"Fine," he scoffs. "But the rest are for your eyes only." 

"You don't have to remind me, I'm never going to share these with anyone." Jongin happily grins. 

"Are you really that happy to upload that simple picture?" Sehun asks as he absentmindedly plays with Jongin's hair. 

"It's not simple, it's you. Besides, it's kind of my way of saying that I’m not single." he shrugs.

Sehun looks over at him. “How thoughtful,” he teases. “A lot of our classmates follow your page though, do you think they’d know it’s me?”

“With the way I’ve been so vocal about making you my muse, I’m pretty sure they’d take the hint.” 

“Well, it’s art. Nothing is inappropriate about posting your boyfriend’s cropped nudes on your page that has thousands of followers, right?” Sehun rambles. 

Jongin reaches over and fondly pats Sehun's head. "The same way that nothing is inappropriate about making your man model for your nude paintings, am I right?” 

“Point made,” Sehun concedes. 

Sehun’s ringtone interrupts them. With a groan, Sehun lazily grabs his phone. He huffs when he sees Lisa’s picture. “What is it?” he asks. 

_ “You’re at Jongin’s right? I just finished my shoot today and I need some advice from your hottie. I’m coming over, don’t worry I’ll bring food.”  _ Lisa says.

Sehun glances at Jongin since the phone is on loudspeaker anyway. “Your timing is great, Lisa.” Jongin joins in. 

_ “Why? Was Sehun sucking you off before I called?”  _ Lisa snorts. 

“We’ll see you later, Lisa.” Sehun deadpans. 

_ “Hey! I know that tone, I was ri--”  _ Sehun didn’t let his best friend finish and ended the call straight away. 

“Damn, your best friend knows you so well.” Jongin teases. 

Sehun hits him with a pillow. 

  
  
  
  
  


Their final defense is coming up and they also have an exhibit to work on. Sehun, Jongin, and Lisa all consulted each other as they finalized their media plans. 

The past weeks have been very busy as they juggle through several plates, quizzes and their thesis. The date for their final defense was grouped according to their products. Lisa and Jongin will have their defense on the first day while Sehun will have his on the following day. The two promised that they won't celebrate just yet until Sehun is done with his defense so that they won't add additional pressure to him. 

On the day of the defense, Jongin and Lisa were the only ones that met up. Sehun was not required to show up since it wasn't his defense day. He wanted to be supportive but he has his own deadlines to catch up on. 

Jongin barely got everything done. He picked up his coffee table book the day before at the publishing house and he made sure that Sehun didn't get a chance to take a look at it. He plans to show it to him at the exhibit. 

"So, you think you can ace this?" Lisa asks as they wait outside the audio visual room. They were allowed to stay inside and watch but they're both too nervous for that. 

Jongin scans through his PowerPoint slides once more. "Failure is not an option. We'll both pass this." Jongin says. 

His phone suddenly vibrates so he checks. At the same time, he sees Lisa taking out her phone as well. They both just received a message from Sehun. 

**_"I know you got this. Good luck!"_ **

"He copied and pasted the same text for both of us?" Jongin complains. Lisa was about to make a retort when Jongin received another message. 

**_"Stay at my place tonight,"_ **

Lisa sees the message so she gives him a smug look. "We didn't get the same message, are you happy now?" 

"Shut up," He scoffs. Lisa doesn't miss the smile that is slowly forming on Jongin's lips anyway. 

  
  


One agonizing thesis defense and an even more agonizing wait for their grading sheets later, Jongin finally feels like he could breathe again. 

He was a bit worried because the jurors were strict. One of them worked as the director of photography in one of the indie films that Jongin watched so he felt the pressure. He was tensed throughout the whole defense but he was confident enough to know that they can't grill him with questions since he is prepared enough. Lisa was the same, although her defense lasted longer she was still able to answer all the questions thrown at her. So when their adviser showed them their grading sheets once they were all done, they both felt ecstatic to see that they both passed. 

Jongin even passed with flying colors and he was also informed that he might be a possible candidate for the "Best Thesis" award. 

"Damn, you're really so amazing, Jongin. Sehun would be so happy." Lisa excitedly hits his shoulder. "Passing with a high grade is amazing enough but possibly getting the best thesis award too? We should celebrate." 

"Stop it, it's not yet sure anyway. There are still plenty that haven't done their defense yet and didn't we promise Sehun that we'll only celebrate once he passed too?" Jongin points out. 

"Well I'm sure that best friend of mine will pass tomorrow. I'll be here to watch him since I'm basically free now." Lisa says. 

"Speaking of your best friend, I'll be staying over at his apartment tonight. I wonder what's up? For the past weeks he always prefers to come over at my place instead since his place is a mess." 

"He's probably feeling nervous so he'll need the company. Make sure to bring iced coffee and french fries for him, he'll need his comfort food." Lisa reminds. 

"I'll drop by at my place to take some clothes first. Send him a text too but don't tell him about the best thesis thing yet, I don't want him to feel pressured." Jongin says. 

"Alright lover boy, that's noted." Lisa says with a grin. 

  
  
  


Sehun feels unnerved throughout the whole morning. He couldn't work on his last painting because he kept thinking about Jongin and Lisa's defense (and his own too). 

He jumps to his feet when he suddenly hears someone knocking on his door. He glances at the clock and sees that it's been quite some time since he texted Jongin so it must be him. 

When he opens the door, he sees Jongin with a warm smile on his face. He's carrying two iced coffees and a takeout paper bag from Mcdonald's. Sehun could smell the delicious scent of the fries already.

"Hey, how did it go?" He greets Jongin with a kiss on the cheek. 

"Didn't Lisa send you a text? We both passed." Jongin smiles. "And don't worry, this isn't for a celebration. This is comfort food just so you won't be too nervous." 

Sehun's mouth gapes in realization. "I haven't checked my phone since I sent you two the text but…" his expression suddenly lights up. "This is great! You and Lisa are graduating! Congratulations!" he wraps his arms around Jongin's waist and pulls him close. 

Jongin tries his best to not spill the coffee as his boyfriend gives him his much needed hug. Sehun immediately releases him when he realizes that Jongin's hands were full and sheepishly smiles as he takes the food out of Jongin's hands to place them on the table. 

Sehun looks back and sees that Jongin hasn't made a step inside yet. "I know it's messy and it looks back but it will be over soon." Sehun tells him. 

This was the messiest his apartment has ever been. His mattress was raised up against the wall, the floor is covered in plastic and newspapers, there are brushes and paint everywhere and his canvases are all lined up on one side. Sehun's clothes aren't any better either, he's wearing one of his big white shirts and shorts. He had paint all over his arms and legs too. He figures it's easier to clean up and it's fine if his clothes get messy too since they're old. 

"Wait, you're not yet done?" Jongin asks him, his expression turning serious. 

"Well… I wasn't satisfied so I wanted to repeat something. It's the abstract painting, I think I can do it quickly…" he says, sounding unsure. 

"Sehun, your defense is tomorrow morning." Jongin states. "You need to finish that right now." 

"I was going to work on it. I have all the paint mixed already, see?" Sehun points at the plastic cups beside the blank canvas. "I was just so nervous and I couldn't start working." 

Jongin sighs. "You can't pull an all nighter tonight, you need to be well rested for tomorrow." 

Sehun blankly stares at him until it all suddenly caves in. "Oh my god… I'm going to fail, aren't I?" he panics. "Am I not going to graduate?" 

Jongin holds him by his shoulders. "Calm down. I did not say that. You'll be fine, let's just finish this by today. But before that, you should eat. You probably skipped meals again." 

Sehun takes a deep breath and nods. "Well, I am hungry." 

"Eat up," Jongin tells him.

Sehun nods and takes a seat right by the table. He is more relaxed as he's munching on the fries that Jongin brought. 

As embarrassing as it is for Jongin to see the mess in his apartment, he's glad he told Jongin to come because he really needed his company. 

One satisfying meal and a congratulations message for Lisa later, Sehun is finally ready to work on his final piece. 

He used one of his previous paintings of Jongin as his reference. Sehun silently works on it while Jongin distracts himself by cleaning up what he could. Sehun definitely needs to move out of this place once they graduate. 

It was all going well until Sehun suddenly groans in dismay. "What's wrong?" Jongin asks. 

Sehun looks at his painting in annoyance. "Something is not right." Sehun whines. 

Jongin looks at the canvas in confusion. He finds it beautiful and he sees nothing wrong with it but he knows better than to make a comment like he knows better than Sehun. 

"Anything I can help you with?" he asks instead. 

"What do you think it lacks? Be honest." Sehun says. 

Jongin observes the canvas once again. "You're so technical about it," he honestly says. 

Sehun looks at him. "What do you mean?" 

"It's abstract, Sehun. It doesn't have to be an accurate depiction of your previous paintings. Express yourself. All your works are beautiful, it's time to be a bit more free with this last one." Jongin explains. 

Sehun lowers his brush and looks at his work once again. "More free huh?" he repeats.

Jongin expected Sehun to simply let loose and continue working. However, he did not expect for Sehun to suddenly pick a cup of paint and pour it onto the canvas. Sehun drops the brush and uses his hands to spread the paint onto the canvas instead. 

Jongin sees how Sehun's expression lights up as he's brushing his fingers over the acrylic pours he just made. 

Jongin moves closer to take a closer look, he fails to see the brushes scattered on the floor so he stumbles forward. He was able to use his hand to keep his balance but to his horror, he accidentally used Sehun’s canvas to stop his fall. 

Jongin's hand was covered in paint and it messed up the canvas too. He worriedly looks at Sehun thinking that the other is going to be furious but he was laughing instead. 

"That was so clumsy of you," Sehun giggles. 

"I-I'm sorry… Shit, I messed up your work," Jongin panics. 

"It's an abstract painting," Sehun says in a reassuring tone. "Besides, you actually gave me an idea." He applies more paint on his palms and placed it on top of Jongin's own hand. "Want to work on this together?" he asks. 

Jongin lets out a relieved sigh. Sehun is really an unpredictable one. "I'm already covered in paint too, so why not?" 

It only took a few seconds of them focusing on the painting until Sehun playfully flicks the paint on his fingertips onto Jongin. 

"I'm not wearing working clothes," Jongin whines as he avoided Sehun's antics. 

"Then change into some of my old clothes," Sehun tells him. "Come on, it will be fun." 

"Alright," Jongin shrugs. But instead of taking one of Sehun's shirts, he simply takes off his shirt and unbuttons his pants. 

Sehun's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, what are you doing?"' he exclaims. 

"Cleaning paint off my skin is easier than cleaning it off clothes." He shrugs as he slips out of his jeans. 

Sehun averts his gaze and looks back down on the canvas. Jongin is only wearing his boxers right now. "Have you painted like this before?" he grumbles. 

"I painted shirtless before, it gets too hot sometimes." he says. 

Sehun didn't need to visualize the thought because the real deal is right in front of him. "You should do it sometimes too," Jongin suggests, his tone playful. 

"It doesn't sound practical to me so no thanks." Sehun brushes the thought away. 

He was back to focusing on the painting when Jongin suddenly grabs him by his wrist. He looks up and sees his boyfriend giving him a suggestive look. "I could change your mind," 

"Nice try," Sehun lilts as he used his free hand to playfully slap Jongin's cheek. 

Jongin winces since his hand was all covered in paint. "So you like that, huh?" There was a mischievous glint on his eyes.

Before Sehun could even regret what he just did, Jongin lets go of his wrist and suddenly cups his face. Sehun laughs as he tries to push Jongin's hands away but it was too late anyway, his cheeks and neck were already covered in paint. 

"No! Stop it! You're so annoying!" he says in between giggles. He uses his other hand to cover Jongin's other cheek in paint too. 

When their laughter dies down, Jongin looks at him with a smile on his face. Then, without any more words, both of them lean forward until their lips touch. It reminded Sehun of their first kiss, although this time they weren't cleaning paint off each other. 

It was quite funny because as much as Sehun wanted to grab Jongin's hair to kiss him harder but he settles on sliding his hands down to grab onto his arms instead. 

Jongin wanted to do the same too but Sehun even had to cut off the kiss and tell him, "Touch anything but my hair," Jongin laughs before kissing him again. Sehun enjoys the pink hair, so he doesn't want it messed up any time soon. 

When the kiss got more heated, Sehun feels Jongin's paint-covered fingertips snaking under his shirt. Sehun whines before breaking the kiss. "I wore this shirt so that I won't get covered in paint," he says. 

Jongin slides his hands up until his fingers are brushing over Sehun's nipples, he gives them a light pinch. Sehun jolts as he feels a chill running up his spine due to the sudden stimulation. 

"A while ago you were telling me that I have to finish the painting," Sehun points out. 

Jongin peppers soft kisses down on Sehun’s jaw. “You can still work on it,” he hums. 

Sehun’s pupils dilated as he looked into Jongin’s eyes. “I think we can work on it…  _ together.”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for ending it there. Lol. Anyway, this story is only two or three chapters away from ending so I'd really appreciate any comments <3


	10. Chapter 10

Jongin feels his dick twitch at the tone that Sehun just used. Several images appeared in his head and none of those are appropriate at all. He snaps out of it before his thoughts wander too far. “How do you suppose we work on it?” He clears his throat. 

Sehun looks at him knowingly. “Please tell me that you’re not literally thinking of painting together,” he lilts. 

“Well if that’s what you meant then I’d go with that.” Jongin gulps. “But if you’re thinking what I’m thinking then…” he trails off. Sehun rolls his eyes at him and pulls his shirt off instead. “Oh, you’re definitely on board with this.” Jongin dumbly says. 

Sehun’s waist and chest already had streaks of paint on since Jongin snuck his hands into his shirt earlier. He looked even more erotic like this. His smooth skin is so pale and Jongin could see exactly where he touched him due to the paint. 

Sehun giggles because for a moment, Jongin looked so out of it. “Hey, are you just going to stare at me?” 

His boyfriend bites back a scoff. “Am I allowed to touch the artwork?” he asks suggestively.

“Touch all you want,” Sehun says before turning back to the canvas. 

Jongin takes another cup of paint and slowly pours it down Sehun’s shoulder, the paint drips down his arms and down onto the canvas where Sehun has his palm placed. Sehun has focused on the canvas again but Jongin sees how flushed his face looks so he continues. 

  
  


He trails his fingertips across the canvas then up to Sehun’s arms, he slides his fingers on his shoulders until he reaches down on his lower back. “Can you get up on your knees?” Jongin asks. 

Sehun bites his lip and nods before he gets up on all fours. Jongin takes a deep breath, he reaches for the hem of Sehun’s shorts before slowly pulling them down together with his underwear. Jongin’s mouth nearly waters at the sight, Sehun’s ass is glorious. 

Sehun gasps when he feels Jongin’s paint-covered hands caressing his cheeks and giving it a squeeze. “Too bad my hands are dirty,” Jongin says. “I would love to finger you until you’re begging for me.” He grabs both cheeks to spread them open, Sehun whimpers when he feels his hole getting exposed. “Wait… did you--?” 

“You don’t have to worry about… prepping me.” Sehun mutters, his face turning red. “I… touched myself before you came here.” 

“Fuck Sehun, that’s so hot.” Jongin moans as he massages Sehun’s flesh. “Why would you do that though? You had plans?” he teases. “You wanted this to happen, didn’t you?” 

“Not this specifically,” Sehun whines. “But… I’ve always touched myself before working on my paintings where you were the model.” 

Jongin’s mouth gapes at the new information. “Really?” He rasps. “So all those times you went to my place--you?” 

“I touched myself before coming over.” Sehun admits shamelessly. “You can take your time next time but I want you in me now.” 

Jongin smirks in amusement. “Oh, baby…” He leans forward and plants a kiss on Sehun’s shoulder. “You don’t know what you’re doing to me.” His low voice leaves goosebumps all over Sehun’s skin.

“You don’t want to find out what I’ll do to you if you don’t start moving.” Sehun says through gritted teeth. 

Jongin had the audacity to laugh at him but before Sehun could even make a retort, Jongin suddenly grabs him by the waist.  "I'll take that as a challenge." 

Without warning, Jongin's tongue grazes his hole. Sehun's breath hitches and his knees start to tremble. Jongin's hands keep him in place. His tongue teases the opening then, slowly, he prods his tongue into the tight heat.

A moan tumbles out of Sehun's lips, his back arches involuntarily. Jongin pulls back and gives him another lick before skidding his tongue past Sehun's opening once again. 

"Shit, Jongin I--" Sehun cries out helplessly. It took all of his self-control to not lose balance and land face-first onto his painting. 

If the paint wasn't so thick, he's sure it would look like there are scratch marks on the canvas with the way his fists are clenching. 

It was agonizing yet pleasurable. He can't even touch himself but his cock is already leaking precum. "Jongin please, I can't come like this." he pleads. 

He sighs in relief when Jongin pulls away. "Already close?" He hums. The hands on his waist rubs up to his chest. He feels more of Jongin's weight behind him. "Can't tease you for that though," 

Sehun whimpers when he feels Jongin's cock rubbing against his ass. "Look how hard you got me with just this," Jongin whispers. 

"What are you waiting for?" Sehun pants. "Fuck me," 

Jongin licks his lips. "As you wish," 

Sehun reaches back with one hand to spread his ass open. Jongin feels like he's going to overheat. His hold on Sehun's waist tightens as he pushes his hard, throbbing cock inside Sehun's heat. 

Sehun would have toppled over if it wasn't for Jongin's hand wrapped around his waist. Jongin doesn't move immediately. Sehun shifts in a much more comfortable position. He adjusts his hands and parts his knees, spreading himself even more. 

"Fuck, you feel so nice and tight." Jongin hisses. 

"Y-you can move," Sehun says once he's well adjusted. 

Jongin slowly pulls out and slides back in. Sehun's fingers clutch onto the canvas, spreading more of the paint on them. There were slow thrusts at first until Jongin finds his rhythm. It doesn't take long until his hipbones at slamming against Sehun's ass. 

Sehun moans wantonly and he starts moving his hips back to meet Jongin's thrusts. 

"Harder," he pants. 

Jongin complies, he grips the younger's waist with one hand while he uses the other to tilt Sehun's face to the side so they can smash their lips together. One hard thrust had Sehun jerking forward, he accidentally spills a cup of paint onto the canvas. 

Jongin stops, worried that Sehun might get mad since the painting might get ruined. "D-don't stop. T-there, fuck me there harder." he sobs. 

All of Sehun's moans and cries go straight to his dick. He swallows the lump in his throat and thrusts faster, harder, and deeper. 

One of Sehun's arms gave in eventually, he nearly falls down onto the canvas when Jongin suddenly grips him by the wrist and draws his arm back, Jongin does the same to Sehun's other arm while not losing his rhythm. The new position was strenuous but Sehun takes it as he feels Jongin's length reaching deeper. 

"Oh my god," he chokes out. "J-jongin, I'm gonna come," 

Jongin snakes an arm around Sehun's waist to pull him up so that his back is against his chest. "Come for me baby," he growls as he bites his ear.

Jongin swears he hears the most erotic moan when Sehun comes untouched. "I want to come inside you," he grunts. 

"Do it," Sehun says without hesitation. 

Jongin's lips curve into a smirk before chasing his own orgasm. It doesn't take long until he's spilling inside Sehun. 

They both collapse down on the floor, on the other side, careful to not mess up the canvas anymore. 

"Holy fuck, that was hot." Sehun says once he catches his breath.

"I can't believe we did that, you're so kinky." Jongin snorts. 

"Hey, you started it all last time." Sehun chastised. 

"I feel like normal sex is ruined for us," Jongin jokes as he pulls out. Sehun whines softly since he's still sensitive. Jongin had to avert his gaze from his come leaking out of Sehun's hole, he can't get hard again. As much as he wants another round, Sehun is having his **final defense** tomorrow.

"I think the painting turned out well." Sehun says as he slowly sits up. 

Jongin looks at the painting and it did look good. He was actually a bit worried about how it would turn out especially after they spilled paint on it but the painting definitely looks more…  _ expressive.  _

Jongin could make out the strokes of Sehun's fingers at the bottom part of the canvas. It really looks nice, he hopes he can properly look at the painting without getting any lewd thoughts. 

"Let's clean up, we badly need it." Sehun says. 

"Yup, we definitely do." Jongin agrees. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


One awkward and silent cleaning on Sehun’s working area and a shower with intense scrubbing and soaping later, Sehun and Jongin were finally clean and dressed in fresh clothes. 

They cleaned the remaining mess in Sehun’s apartment and finally put down the mattress. The canvas was still where they left it, the paint was so thick that it’s barely dry. “Do you think it would dry off before I present it tomorrow?” Sehun asks. 

“Well, it’s acrylic paint so it probably will. It would be a different story if you used oil paint,” Jongin shrugs. 

Sehun silently nods. He takes a look at the canvas once again. “Are you sure that… it turned out well?” Sehun asks. 

“Why? Are you not satisfied with it? Don’t tell me you’re going to start over again,” 

“No, I actually like it. Why would I even repeat it again at such a crucial time?” Sehun pouts. “Besides, I don’t have the energy to work anymore.” 

Jongin resisted the urge to tease him but he’s already smiling smugly anyway. Sehun easily notices it and gives him the stink eye despite looking embarrassed. “I think it turned out nice. It’s very…  _ expressive.”  _

“Expressive is a nice way to put it.” Sehun dryly says. Just looking at the canvas is enough to make him blush, he doesn’t know how he’ll handle presenting it to the jurors tomorrow. 

“Your emotions are showing on the canvas,” Jongin teases. 

“Oh my God, shut up.” He whines. 

“This will be displayed on our exhibit and I’m sure some people will be asking you questions about it, I hope you are prepared for that.” Jongin snickers. “You shouldn’t blush too much or else someone will end up catching on.” 

Sehun elbows him. “Lisa is definitely going to catch on,” he sighs dramatically. 

“Well I don’t mind if she finds out, she was pretty chill when she found out I took nude pictures of you.” Jongin waves him off. “Just don’t slip out to the jurors that we were having sex while you painted then you’ll be fine.” 

“You are evil,” Sehun grumbles. “Anyway, I have to go through my powerpoint presentation again just to make sure that I didn’t miss anything.” he changes the subject. 

“Alright, I’ll go out to buy dinner then. Anything specific that you want?” Jongin asks. 

“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” Sehun replies, his eyes were fixated on his laptop already. Jongin doesn’t ask him anymore after that. He hears Jongin telling him that he’ll be back in a bit so he simply hums in response. 

Jongin comes back about half an hour later. Sehun was done with his presentation by then and is just currently preparing the clothes that he’ll be wearing the next day. “Come on, eat up so you can rest early.” 

Lisa called him once they were done eating. She wished him good luck and told him a few tips that she got from their previous seniors. She wasn’t even surprised to see Jongin with him since she did tell Jongin to go to his place to look after him. 

That night, Sehun was able to sleep comfortably. It’s the first time that Jongin slept over at his place and even though Sehun’s bed is not as comfortable as Jongin’s, he still slept like a baby. 

Sehun’s alarm wakes them up in the following morning. He was not nervous last night but he definitely is now. Jongin didn’t even offer him coffee since it might make him feel even more jittery. 

Jongin had to book a taxi for them on their way to their university because Sehun had to bring five canvases and a laptop. “Imagine if you were single, who would be helping you with all these then?” Jongin jokes as they were climbing up the stairs of their building. 

“Lisa would help,” Sehun remarks. “But I am lucky enough to have you.” 

Lisa was waiting for them outside the audio visual room. She smiles brightly upon seeing the two. She takes one canvas off of Sehun’s hands to help him. “Everything good?” she asks. 

“Yeah, I’m ready as I’ll ever be.” Sehun exhales. 

Lisa fixes up his hair and makes sure that there was no crease on sight on his attire. She gives him one more once over and grins. Sehun’s brows furrow. “What’s with the look?” 

“You’re glowing today.” Lisa points out. She glances over at Jongin and smirks. “You finally did it?” she whispers. 

Sehun shushes her. “How can you even tell?” 

“Girls know everything,” she lilts. 

Jongin was busy talking to one of their classmates who was busy asking him questions about his defense the previous day. Sehun doesn’t listen into their conversation anymore, he’s just glad that Jongin isn’t paying attention to Lisa at the moment. 

“So, how was it? Jongin is super fit, how are you walking straight right now?” Lisa grabs onto his waist. 

Sehun flinches away from her. “Shut up and please stop being so weird about this.” he scoffs. 

“It’s honestly quite a surprise, I expected at least one hickey.” She checks out his neck. 

“There is no hickey,” he snaps, still making sure to keep his voice low. “We were covered in paint…” he adds. 

Lisa’s eyes widen and her mouth gapes in shock, Sehun clasps a hand over her mouth as she lets out a squeal. Jongin and some of their classmates look at them in confusion but Sehun is way too embarrassed to meet anyone’s questioning gaze. 

“Holy shit, I knew Jongin was the kinky type but I didn’t expect him to be super kinky.” Lisa rambles. “Wait don’t tell me you  _ Jackson Pollocked  _ your painting?” 

Sehun looked completely scandalized. “That’s… disgusting. No, I would never do something like that.” 

Lisa cackles. “I need that image out of my head.” 

“You are such a pervert.” Sehun’s nose wrinkles. 

“Hey, I’m not the one that was being fucked while painting.” Lisa retorts. 

Before Sehun could even make a retort, their adviser suddenly shows up and interrupts them. “Sehun, there you are. It’s good that you arrived early. The time got adjusted because the first student that defended only took a few minutes. Prepare your laptop, you’ll be called in any time now.” she says.

Sehun could not believe his ears for a moment. “W-wait, already? I still have thirty minutes before my assigned time.” Sehun stammers. 

“I know but it’s best to not keep the jurors waiting. Come inside in five minutes,” their adviser says. 

The nervousness hits him like a trainwreck. His hands suddenly turn cold and his face pales. He shakily takes out his laptop from his bag. “Well… I’m definitely nervous now.” He tries to laugh it off. 

“Sehun, it will be fine. You’re well prepared so there is nothing to worry about.” Lisa cheers him up. 

“I just didn’t expect that I’d be going in there earlier than my assigned time.” Sehun sighs. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” 

Jongin wraps an arm around his shoulder and gives him encouraging pats. “You’ll do great. If Lisa and I passed, then you’ll do even better.” he whispers before sneaking a quick kiss on his shoulder. 

Their other classmates weren’t able to notice it but Lisa sees it. She smiles fondly when she sees how comfortable and natural the two have gotten. Sehun takes a deep breath. “Okay, let’s get this over with.” 

  
  


Since Sehun had many things to bring, Lisa and Jongin accompanied him inside to help him setup his paintings on the easels and connect his laptop onto the projector. Once everything was ready, he told them to wait outside because seeing them watch will only make him even more nervous. Once he has calmed down, he greets the jurors and starts.

It felt like he was on autopilot the whole time. He smoothly explained everything he put on the presentation. His hands were shaking but his voice sounded confident enough so they didn’t notice. Once he was done explaining, the jurors started asking questions which he was able to answer smoothly. 

Before he even knows it, it was all over and his adviser was telling him that he did a great job. “Seems like you’re another possible candidate for the best thesis award.” she whispers. 

It took a while for Sehun to process that. “Wait, what?” 

“Sehun, your works were amazing. Your media plan is excellent too, you could pitch that to a company and I’m sure they’d make an offer.” She tells him. 

“Please, that’s too much.” Sehun denies, but he is flattered nonetheless. “I’m just glad to pass and graduate.” 

“Well it’s a job well done. Good luck to you and Jongin, I have a gut feeling that the awardee is going to be one of you.” She said. 

“Jongin?” Sehun asks. 

“Oh, didn’t he tell you? He’s also in the running for the award, he was the first one added on the list actually.” she answers. “Anyway, I’ll be calling your next classmate. You may take your paintings now, I’ll see you soon at the exhibit.” 

Sehun was left there to take his things. As he was getting his paintings, Lisa and Jongin enter the room to help him again. Neither of them ask him any questions because Sehun was just quiet. Once they were outside the audio-visual room, Lisa breaks the silence. 

“Is everything alright? Mrs. Kwon said you passed, why are you so quiet?” she asks. 

Sehun looks over at Jongin. “You’re a candidate for best thesis,” it wasn’t a question. 

Jongin looks surprised for a moment. “Mrs. Kwon told you?” 

Sehun frowns. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I didn’t want to pressure you. Lisa and I promised that we won’t celebrate yet until all of us are done with the defense.” Jongin explains. 

“God, I feel awful.” Sehun winces. 

Lisa and Jongin exchange bewildered glances. “Why would you feel that way?” 

“You were supposed to be celebrating last night but you were… looking after me instead. I told you to come over right after wishing you good luck, it’s selfish.” 

“And what’s so bad about that? Even if you didn’t text me, I would still come over. Besides, it’s not yet too late to celebrate together,” Jongin says. 

“He’s right. Your man is a candidate for the award which means, he’ll be in charge of treating us.” Lisa grins. 

“Actually… there’s something I have to tell you both too.” The two listen to him carefully. “I’m a candidate for the award too,” 

Jongin is the first to hug him tightly. “Wow, that’s amazing! I mean, I’m not that surprised, your works are amazing. Congratulations, you deserve it.” 

Sehun smiles as he melts in Jongin’s embrace. “Shut up, you deserve it too. Even though you’re purposely being so secretive about your whole book… I know the whole outcome is amazing.” he pouts. 

Lisa squeezes herself in between their hug to join in. “You two rascals! I guess this means the both of you should be treating me! Come on power couple!” she cheers. 

“Aren’t you running for honors though?” Sehun points out.

Lisa huffs. “That’s a different case, I’m talking about the thesis here,” she changes the subject. “So it should be you, treating us.” 

“No need to argue, I’ll treat you both.” Jongin cuts them off. 

Sehun is about to object but Lisa beats him to it. “Ah, the privilege of being the best friend of someone’s sugar baby.” she lilts. 

“Lisa!” Sehun yelps in horror while Jongin nearly chokes. 

“Are you into that?” Jongin asks him. 

“No! Don’t listen to her.” Sehun defends. 

“I won’t really mind if you’re into it.” Jongin teases. 

“I made him read some of the BL webtoons I like. Trust me when I say this, he’d definitely be into that.” Lisa snickers. 

“I’m leaving you both,” Sehun grabs his paintings and marches off. 

Jongin and Lisa both laugh before chasing after him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whatever sekai did in this chapter... it is not advisable to try it. LMAO.


	11. Chapter 11

A week later, everyone was already done with their defense. It was also the first day for their exhibit. Right after this, they’ll be finishing up the submissions for all their final papers. Their graduation is already within reach. By now all of them have already passed the sleepless nights, some of their classmates have started applying for jobs already. 

Their exhibit took place in an events area of a mall, everything was all well prepared. There are already a few people gathering around as their adviser was giving her opening remarks. The president of their university was also there for the ribbon-cutting. Once the exhibit was declared open, there were already people coming in to check out their works. 

“Aren’t you two going to check out the works?” Lisa asks. They were all staying by the snack bar. 

“There are too many people, I’ll wait for some to leave.” Sehun replies as he takes another piece of chocolate from the bowl of candies. Their classmate guarding the snack bar scolds him and tells him it’s for the guests. “This is my last, I promise.” He grins cheekily. 

“There are a lot of people gathered at your works,” Jongin points. True enough, there were at least five people that are at Sehun’s section of the exhibit. 

“It has a nude painting, it’s bound to grab attention.” Sehun shrugs. 

“How does it feel to have people looking at your sex canvas?” Lisa asks. 

Sehun blushes while Jongin clears his throat. “You told her?” he asks. 

“I tell her everything, I’m sorry!” Sehun quickly steps behind Lisa in an attempt to use her as a human shield. 

Jongin gives the best friends an unamused look. “You two look ridiculous,” he states the obvious. He looks over towards the crowd of people in the exhibit again. “I think Mrs. Kwon is calling you,” Jongin says. 

“I’ll be right back,” Sehun tells them before walking up to his adviser. “Is there anything you need?” he asks. 

“Are you planning on selling your paintings?” she asks. 

“Huh? I haven’t really thought about it,” Sehun scratches his head. 

“Someone is interested in buying all five of your paintings, he’s willing to offer a lot of money.” 

Sehun’s jaw drops in shock. “What?!” he gasps. 

“He’s an art collector,” she points at a gentleman that’s currently looking around the exhibit. “He’s very interested in your works. Think about it,” she gives him a pat on the back. 

Sehun returns to where Jongin and Lisa were standing. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, what’s wrong?” Lisa asks. 

“Someone wants to buy my paintings,” Sehun mutters. 

“Really? That’s amazing! Why do you look like someone just kicked your puppy though?” asked Lisa again. 

Sehun purses his lips before looking over at Jongin. “Well it’s him that’s in the paintings…”

“So? It’s alright, go and get that money.” Jongin snorts. 

“The paintings are too  _ memorable  _ for me. It’s not that easy to let them go.” Sehun unconsciously pouts. “But I could really use the money though…” 

“Don’t tell me you’re treating those paintings like your kids just because Jongin fucked you while you’re making them.” Lisa deadpans. 

Sehun looked completely scandalized. “Can you please not put it that way?!”

“Wait, it kinda makes sense. Our first kiss, the time we started dating, and all the other important stuff all happened when you’re making those paintings.” Jongin adds. 

Sehun looks at him in disbelief. “Okay, point taken.” He huffs. “Should I turn down the offer then?” 

“Leave the abstract one, I’m taking that.” Jongin answers, a suggestive grin on his face. 

“What’s your offer?” Sehun asks. 

“I’d love to tell you but it wouldn’t be appropriate.” his boyfriend answers with a wink. Sehun playfully pinches his side in retaliation. 

“You’re both so disgusting, I love you both.” Lisa dramatically says. 

  
  
  
  


In the end, Sehun accepts the art collector’s offer. He did leave the last painting for him and Jongin. The art collector will be taking his paintings by the time that the exhibit is done but he was already paid half the amount in check. It all feels surreal. 

Once there were finally lesser people in the exhibit, he finally got the chance to check out the artworks of his batchmates. He went straight to the section for the coffee table books to check out Lisa’s work then Jongin’s. 

Lisa’s work focuses on tourist spots and festivals, it all looks professionally made and he can tell that all those weekend trips she took are worth it. He moves onto Jongin’s work next. Compared to Lisa’s work, Jongin’s focused more on people instead of places.

Sehun scans through the pages carefully, he sees people of different ages, different jobs and different appearances. Some photos were candid while some were photoshoots that he scheduled on different days. The outline of the book was so meticulously made too, no wonder Jongin was the first candidate chosen for the best thesis award, his work is amazing. 

Sehun is nearly at the end of Jongin’s book when he suddenly sees his face on the next page. He only recalls doing one photoshoot with Jongin for his thesis but there were more pictures of him in the book. He sees the picture that started it all, the first picture of him that Jongin took. He also sees some photos from the projects they worked on together, there were also more candid photos of him as he worked on his paintings.

Pictures aside, what surprised Sehun more was the description that Jongin put for his section on the book. Jongin’s whole thesis revolved on studying, observing, and appreciating different kinds of people.

_ “For the person that I appreciate the most.”  _

Below some photos are the exact date and time for when the photo was taken. There were a few short descriptions too but Sehun couldn’t focus on reading it all because he felt too overwhelmed. 

“So, did you like it?” Jongin suddenly steps right beside him. 

Sehun kept his eyes on the book. “I honestly don’t know what to say,” 

“I wanted to surprise you, that’s why I never let you see my progress. I hope it’s okay.” says Jongin. 

“I love you,” Sehun suddenly blurts. He looks over and sees Jongin’s surprised face. “I know I’ve never directly said this but right now, right at this very moment… I’m just-- I love you.” He rambles. 

The smile that Jongin gives him after that is heart-stopping. “I’d tell you that I love you too but I’m sure you can already tell.” he jokes. 

True enough, Sehun really did not need an answer because he’s pulling Jongin in for a quick kiss right after. 

They got reprimanded by their adviser for PDA but hey, it was worth it. 

  
  
  
  
  


Their graduation day is a day full of smiles and happy tears. It was no surprise to them when Jongin won the  _ “Best Thesis”  _ award. They actually found out the moment their graduation invitations were distributed but seeing Jongin taking his award onstage is still such a memorable sight to see. Lisa is also a part of the  _ “With honors”  _ as she was able to consistently maintain her grades for both her major and minor subjects. Sehun is very proud of them both.

Jongin didn’t fail to give Sehun a smile while he was onstage, Sehun’s seatmates all gave him teasing nudges while Sehun simply gives him a flying kiss. 

They introduced each other to their families right after the ceremony, Lisa’s parents were there too since Sehun’s parents have known them for years now. “So, what are your plans now?” Sehun’s father asks. 

“Dad, we just graduated. There’s no need to rush.” Sehun replies. 

“Having a partner on the same career path won’t be so easy, I hope you two handle things well.” Lisa’s mother comments. 

“Mom!” Lisa reprimands. 

“Yeah, we understand that very well.” Jongin calmly answers. “We’ll see, we’re both going to work hard and try our best.” 

“And they can’t get rid of me either so I’ll be keeping them in line.” Lisa proudly says. 

Their parents all laugh in amusement. Sehun smiles at the thought. He doesn’t have any specific plans because he’s just so exhausted that he wants to prioritize taking a break first but now that he thinks of it, he’s not that worried about having the same career path as Jongin. They both have different strengths and they can use that to grow together instead. Sehun has already learned that anyway. After all, he did have this one-sided rivalry with Jongin before. 

  
  
  


“I was really worried you’d break up while I was gone,” Lisa says as she dropped off the last of their moving boxes. 

“Like that’s going to happen,” Jongin tosses an empty cardboard box at her. 

“Stop messing around, I’m counting if the boxes are complete!” Sehun whines. 

It has been two years since they graduated and they just moved into their new home. They spent the first two years in different jobs and once they saved enough, they both agreed to stick to freelance work and move in together. On the other hand, Lisa spent the first two years working for a company in Thailand, she just got back a week ago as she opted to become a freelance photographer as well. She just dropped by to check out their place and “help” them unpack. 

“What do you think? It’s pretty nice, isn’t it?” Jongin asks. 

Lisa crosses her arms and hums in approval. “I have to hand it to you both, this is really nice. Isn’t it too big though? Why pick a house with four bedrooms?” she asks. 

“We’re converting one into a dark room, then the other will be Sehun’s studio, one will be our bedroom and we’ll keep a guest room in case.” Jongin answers. 

“Sounds like a dream home for two artists.” Lisa happily sighs. 

“It is a dream home,  _ our  _ dream home.” Sehun tells her. 

Lisa rolls her eyes. “I see you’re both still as gross as ever.” 

  
  


Lisa had to leave earlier since she had a meeting with a client. Sehun and Jongin finished off with their unpacking. “Oh look at what finally made an appearance,” Jongin says with a laugh as he unwrapped something from the box. 

It was the abstract painting that they made together. “Where should we put it?” Sehun asks. “Anywhere but the dining area, please.” 

Jongin bites back a snort. “It’s best to put it in the bedroom.” he decides. 

They hung the painting in their bedroom wall opposite of their bed. Sehun wanted it by the top of their bed but Jongin insisted that it’s much better if they see it whenever they’re on the bed. Sehun knew exactly what he’s implying but he agreed anyway.

Once they were all done, Jongin tiredly plops down onto their bed. Sehun gives him a disapproving look as he nudges him. “Get up, you haven’t showered yet.” he scolds. 

Instead of listening to him, Jongin grabs his hand and pulls him down. Sehun lands with a soft thud right beside him. “Take a breather, we earned it.” Jongin tells him. 

Sehun does not object and shifts in a more comfortable position. Barely five minutes pass when Jongin’s phone starts ringing. Jongin quickly gets up and answers it. They both have two sim cards on their phones, one for personal use and another for clients. The ringtone Sehun heard just now was the one Jongin uses for his clients and based on the expression on Jongin’s face, it must be a good client. 

Once the call was over, Jongin’s smile was wide and contagious. “We got a new client.” he says. 

“We…?” Sehun asks. 

“Yeah, a friend of mine referred us both. It’s for a wedding, they want me to take their prenup shoot and they want you to draw a portrait for them too.” Jongin replies.

Sehun gasps. “Really? Oh my god, that’s amazing. They really want us both for it?” 

“They do,” Jongin nods happily. 

Sehun smiles too. “Our first client together,” 

“I can’t wait.” 

  
  
  
  


The weather was perfect, it was cloudy so it wasn’t too hot outside and it was pretty windy too. The location they were in was stunning. The couple that booked them obviously had lots of money, they rented out a whole resort for a prenup shoot. 

Sehun was there to accompany Jongin for the day. Jongin was currently taking photos of the couple right by the poolside. Sehun will be working on the painting once the couple picks out which photo from their photoshoot he’ll be using as a reference. 

Sehun loves seeing Jongin in action. He looks like a total boss whenever he’s giving out instructions. He loves how serious and focused he gets but whenever he sees that the models or client feels uneasy, he tones it down to make them more relaxed. 

Their clients are very nice too, Sehun would talk to the couple whenever they have breaks and he also helps out whenever Jongin needed help with the equipment. 

After different rounds of shoots, they had a quick talk with the couple. Sehun transferred the photos that Jongin took to his laptop so he can show the couple the photos and videos that they took. 

They were very happy with the outcome. Sehun isn’t surprised, Jongin never had any unsatisfied clients and that’s why he gets so many referrals. The couple also picked out the photo that they want Sehun to paint and he had a quick discussion about their preferences too. 

Once it was all settled, Jongin reminded them that they’ll have everything ready in ten days then they part ways. Sehun starts working on the painting the moment they get home. He’s feeling more motivated and inspired today.

Jongin steps in his studio a few hours later with two cups of coffee and a plate of cookies for them to share. Sehun drops his paintbrush for a while and settles down on the floor with Jongin to take a break. 

“We’ve had a long day, aren’t you tired?” Jongin asks. 

“My day is just getting started,” Sehun scoffs. “I was simply there to be your assistant today.” 

“Partner, not assistant.” Jongin corrects him with a pout. 

“Partner it is then,” he grins cheekily.

“By the way, I was thinking of something while taking photos today.” Jongin changes the subject. Sehun looks over at him and makes an expression for him to continue. “When I was taking pictures of the couple by the poolside, I remembered our photoshoot together back in college.” 

“You mean the time when I fell in the pool?” Sehun giggles. 

“The time you were starting to fall in love with me.” Jongin retorts. “I can’t forget the look on your face when I was drying your hair.” 

“My heart was fragile and you knew exactly what you were doing to me,” Sehun teases. 

“It all worked and now you can’t bear the thought of being separated from me.” Sehun makes a face at Jongin’s confident tone. “Anyway, did you get any interesting thoughts today?” 

Sehun is silent for a bit as he takes a sip of his coffee. “Not much, I just find it cute how happy our clients looked,”

“And?” Jongin encourages because Sehun looked like he had more to add. 

“And that I want to experience the same with you in the future.” Sehun continues. 

Jongin blinks at him in genuine surprise. “W-wait, you mean…?” 

Sehun chuckles. “Don’t you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” he playfully narrows his eyes at him. 

It was nice to see Jongin getting incredibly flustered for once. “I-I… of course I do, you just--I didn’t expect you to bring it up so casually.” he sputtered. 

“I just thought about it too while we were talking to them a while ago, I thought that it would be nice to have that in the future.” Sehun explains. 

“Just say the word,” Jongin says with a wink. 

“Let’s not get too excited, we’ll have to save up for that.” Sehun snickers. 

“Let’s hire Lisa as the photographer, she’d do it for free. That saves us some money.” Jongin jokes. 

Sehun laughs with him. “Yeah, she definitely would.” 

“Promise me that we’ll get there,” Jongin suddenly says. 

Sehun wraps his pinky finger against Jongin’s own. “We’ll get there. I’ll always be yours.” he smiles. 

Jongin’s face brightens up like Christmas. His heart feels so full as he pulls him in for a hug. “I’m yours too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's a wrap!!! Thank you so much for reading this! I know this is one of my lighter and simpler stories since there's barely any conflict in it but it's close to my heart since I got to write a sekai au in my specialization so it was pretty fun. I hope you enjoyed reading! Lovely comments are always appreciated~ 
> 
> Hope to see you in my next stories!


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